Dutch swimmers Nils Korstanje, Kyra Toussaint and Mike de Ward made the finals at the European Championships in Rome. Korstanje did so in the 100m butterfly, Toussaint and De Ward qualified to battle for medals in the 50m backstroke. At last year’s European Championships in Budapest, Toussaint and De Ward took gold and bronze respectively in this distance.
Korstanci set the third time in the semi-finals with a score of 51.46, behind Hungarian Christoph Milak (51.01) and Noe Ponte of Switzerland (51.16). The 23-year-old Friesian remained just above the Dutch record he set earlier this summer in the World Cup semi-finals in Budapest (51.41). That was not enough time to reach the final.
Corstanji qualified first at Foro Italico earlier this week for the 50 butterfly final, but finished fourth.
In the 50th back semi-final, Toussaint (27.84) and De Ward (28.00) finished third in the race. Italian Silvia Scalia was the first to qualify for the final on Sunday evening with a time of 27.39. Toussaint holds the Dutch and European record for this distance with 27.10.
