Sharon van Rouwendaal & Kaersten Meitz Receive Shoutouts From John Oliver & Krasinski For Training at Home

VAN ROUWENDAAL Sharon NED Gold Medal 5km Women Glasgow 08/08/2018 Open Water Swimming Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park LEN European Aquatics Championships 2018 European Championships 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli /Deepbluemedia /Insidefoto

Sharon van Rouwendaal. Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Distance freestyle swimmers Sharon van Rouwendaal and Kaersten Meitz recently received shoutouts on popular shows Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Some Good News with John Krasinski for their at-home training efforts during the coronavirus quarantine.

Sharon Van Rouwendaal was briefly shown on Last Week Tonight’s episode of how the coronavirus has affected sports. The reigning Open Water Olympic Champion was swimming in an inflatable pool while tied to a stretch cord as she chases a repeat gold in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics. Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands was tenth at the 2019 World Championships in the 10K, just securing her spot in Tokyo next summer. She is aiming to be the first repeat gold medal winner in the 10K at the Olympics.

Kaersten Meitz, the reigning gold medalist in the 400 freestyle at the World University Games, was shown swimming in similar circumstances to Van Rouwendaal on the Some Good News Show hosted by actor John Krasinski. The American based out of West Lafayette, Indiana, has been swimming on a stretch cord in a wet suit in a backyard inflatable pool as she chases for her first Olympic appearance in 2021. In 2019, she was ranked 12th in the world in the 400 freestyle and 51st in the world in the 200, winning two gold medals at the World University Games last summer in the 400 free and 4×200 freestyle relay.

The coronavirus quarantine has caused swimmers all over the world to get creative with their training tactics as they push to stay in shape while public pools everywhere remain closed. Reigning Olympic gold medalists Adam Peaty as well as a lot of the British national team swimmers were flown in pools to their homes so they could do at-home training in a flume. Other swimmers such as Hali Flickinger have been able to catch up on other hobbies, and a lot of them like Lia Neal and Olivia Smoliga have been able to give back to their own club teams they grew up on in this time of need.

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