The 25-year-old Katwijker was more than 150 meters ahead of the schedule of the world record. Kamminga eventually had to give in to the world record, but with 2.07.37 he set by far the best time together with Australian Izaac Stubblety-Cook.
The Katwijker and the Australian swam side by side in the fourth of five series. Kamminga, who took Olympic silver in the 100 school on Monday behind Briton Adam Peaty, was 1.28 seconds ahead of the 2019 world record set by Russian Anton Chupkov (2.06.12) halfway through the race. He only had to let go of that schedule in the last 50 meters. He also stayed above his Dutch record of 2.06.85, but the message was clear.
Euphoria
“I just went for it,” said Kamminga, panting heavily in the catacombs of the Tokyo Aquatics Center. “I immediately issued a statement. Like, listen, here I am. I can start hard like no other, that is my quality. The tendency is that the semi-finals and final are not much faster than the series. That is why I immediately wanted to set the best time possible.” Kamminga and Stubblety-Cook were more than 1 second faster than the Finn Matti Mattsson. Chupkov set the fifth fastest time with 2.08.54.
Kamminga quickly shook off the euphoria about his 100th school medal. He also wants to harvest at double the distance. “I took the confidence with me from that race and I am now very focused on those 200 meters. That’s a completely different race. You won’t buy anything here with that 100 school medal. I have to start over, work hard again and dare to invest again. This is the first step.”
The semi-finals are in the Dutch night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the final is Thursday at 03:44.
Realize
After the series, Kamminga looked back on his silver race from the day before. “It was only when I got the applause from the other athletes that I realized what had happened.”
As the third Dutch swimmer, the 25-year-old Katwijker won an individual medal at the Games in Tokyo. After the 100-meter final, the breaststroke specialist was trapped in the Tokyo Aquatics Center for another 4 hours. A medal ceremony, press obligations, doping control; Kamminga was dragged from one place to another.
“When I finally got back to my room, I actually wanted to go to sleep. But that didn’t work out. I just painted, called the family. Other than that, I haven’t actually been on my phone. I have everything turned off, especially because I’m really focused on these 200 meters now.”
In the evening a ceremony followed in the Olympic village, at the building where the Dutch athletes reside. “It was an inverted balcony scene,” Kamminga said. He stood in front of the building as all the athletes clapped for him on the balconies of their apartments. “Everyone was there, that was really ‘next level’. I have had more than enough nice reactions, but this was the most special.”
An orange cloth hangs above the entrance to the TeamNL building, on which the number of gold, silver and bronze medals achieved is kept. Kamminga was allowed to replace the 2 in silver with a 3 on Monday evening.
’High’
“The only advantage of morning finals, I’ve found out, is that you have a little longer time to slowly get off that ‘high’. I need confidence and a good feeling, I go for that very well, but that can also go over the top. My coach Mark Faber is the guard at the gate, he makes sure that everything is run in the right direction. Now the focus is back on the 200 meters.”
