World Championships: Roos Vanotterdijk On Ripping Up The Record Books & Mark Faber’s Positivity
Roos Vanotterdijk heads to Singapore for the latest stop on her odyssey in a year in which she’s ripped up the Belgian record books and earned a golden treble at the European Under-23 Championships.
The Paris Olympian won the 50/100 fly double and 50m backstroke and also claimed 50 free and 100 back silver at the U23s in Samorin in June.
That included two titles in the space of 27 minutes, something that works well for Vanotterdijk who competes across all disciplines bar breaststroke.
She told Swimming World: “I do something and then I don’t have time to think about the other events – I just go to the call room, just dive in and have fun doing it. I don’t really have to think about anything I do, I’ve done it a hundred times in training so just do the same at competition. I just really enjoy doing it because then I don’t have to be in my head so much.”
Roos Vanotterdijk: Photo Courtesy: Royal Belgian Swimming Federation
The 20-year-old has been setting national standards since 2023 and she began this year’s record run at the Flanders Cup in February where she clocked 53.62 and 58.97 in the 100 free and 100 back respectively.
On to April’s Swim Open Stockholm where she lowered the 50 back mark to 27.81, a time she matched at the AP International in May. She moved within sight of breaking the 57-sec barrier in the 100 fly in 57.05 and clocked 2:13.22 in the 200IM, a time she demolished at the French Championships, slicing a 3.49sec chunk in 2:09.73.
She then lowered Kimberley Buys’ 50 fly mark that had stood since 2017 worlds to 25.63 at the European U23s.
Not that any one record particularly stands out, Vanotterdijk having surprised even herself with her rate of improvement.
She said:
“I did some massive drops in everything so everything really surprised me. At the Flanders Cup I did the 100 back in 58.9 – I did not expect that at all because I’d only swum 59 three times before. I was just feeling good and then I dropped almost 0.7. Then I did the freestyle in 53 and I was like how is this happening? So, in the moment those two were amazing.
“But then in Stockholm I did the 100 fly and took 0.2 off my PB which is really nice but the thing that impressed me most was my 29 back half. I had Angelina Köhler next to me but I swim really well when there is someone next to me, I always go a bit faster. I know in the fly it needs to be my back half – my front isn’t all that good yet, we’re still working on that.
“The 2IM? That was crazy. So, it’s really difficult to just pick one – I really don’t know. I’m proud of all of them.”
Safely Navigating Junior & Senior Waters
It all started when a three-year-old Vanotterdijk was introduced to the water by her parents.
From that moment on, she never stopped and at 11 she moved to a sports boarding school an hour away in Antwerp, the city where she trains today.
It was, she says, “a bit weird” as she’d never been away from home but she thrived and at 14 Vanotterdijk won silverware on the international stage with 100 fly silver at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku.
Roos Vanotterdijk: Photo Courtesy: European Aquatics
It marked the start of a trajectory which saw her compete in tandem at junior and senior competition. She made her senior continental debut at the European Championships in Budapest in May 2021 before travelling to Rome for the European Juniors where she won 50 fly bronze.
The 2022 edition of the continental juniors underlined her versatility as she left Otopeni, Romania, with five medals in fly, freestyle and backstroke including 100 fly gold. Weeks later she reached the 100 fly final at the senior equivalent in Rome, placing eighth.
With Fred Vergnoux at the helm of Belgian swimming, 2023 was a year in which Vanotterdijk made a stir in senior waters.
She made her worlds debut in Fukuoka in 2023 and although impacted by injury which meant she could only kick in the water, it was an “amazing experience.”
She said: “Under the circumstances I did really good so I was really proud of myself, really proud of how everything went but it just wasn’t great because I had a much higher level throughout the rest of the year. It was a bit difficult but really, I enjoyed the world stage, just seeing everything, it’s so much bigger, just to get the experience and take it into the next meet.”
Vergnoux departed and Vanotterdijk started working with Brigitte Becue, the 1994 world 200 breast bronze medallist and three-time European champion.
As the clock ticked down to the Paris Olympics, Vanotterdijk travelled to Belgrade, Serbia, for the European Championships. There she topped the senior international podium for the first time in the 100 fly, one of three medals along with 50 fly silver and 100 back bronze.
Weeks later, she headed over the border and on to the French capital for her Olympic debut. She recalls:
“We were in Paris for at least a week before the competitions started so a lot of time. So the first days I just walked around the whole Village, I did like 20,000 steps. I was just enjoying it, looking at everything. Also I went to Paris like – I don’t have to do anything, I just have to enjoy myself. It’s just a really nice experience.
“So I don’t have anything to prove: I was just there to enjoy myself and also I was 19, I was like I don’t have to do anything right now, I just have to enjoy myself. I have to get as much experience as possible and I can take it to the next four years and just use it there. I went to Paris really relaxed because I didn’t put any pressure on myself at all – I was like, just enjoy it. And then if you enjoy what you do then the good races will come so at the end I did swim really good, really happy with that but I was just there with like no pressure from myself at all.”
Vanotterdijk went on to finish 10th in the 100 back and 100 fly.
She capped off the year by shredding the Belgian record books in the short-course pool before continuing that trajectory in the 50m pool in 2025.
Mark Faber & His Ripple Effect
Now Vanotterdijk travels to the World Championships as one of the top eight performers in the fly events.
With the 200IM and 100 fly scheduled for the opening day and the 100 back on day two, it’s likely that she’ll drop the short medley.
Despite that, Vanotterdijk will likely compete in as many as six individual events, something which suits her mentally.
Florine Gaspard: Photo Courtesy: Royal Belgian Swimming Federation
“I think sometimes it’s a bit more difficult for me to have one event a day because – well, I’m not used to it because I’m always doing multiple things and then I really start thinking about like what do I have to do? I think it just helps me to not think and have fun.”
Vanotterdijk is now guided by Mark Faber who left the Netherlands to take up the role of Belgium head coach last year.
She credits Faber with being empathetic and receptive and having an individualised approach to each swimmer.
“He just really listens to what I have to say. He listens to my point of view and tries to understand. I think that’s really important; I haven’t had that with all my coaches. So, it’s really nice that someone tries to understand you and also respects you and looks at more than just the swimmer because you’re still a person first and then you’re an athlete and then you’re a swimmer.
“He looks at the steps and looks at the mental part because sometimes that is a bit forgotten, they just don’t think it’s as important as the physical part but I think it’s more important.”
Vanotterdijk, who studies psychology at the University of Brussels, trains alongside Florine Gaspard who set a national 50 free mark of 24.42 at the Swim Open Stockholm. The pair will soon be joined by Olympic bronze medallists Tes Schouten and Caspar Corbeau who will reunite with Faber having worked with him in Amsterdam.
Vanotterdijk continued:
“I think it makes everyone better just to be challenged a bit. It was a bit less in the past but now it’s really helping us. We are really good friends and it’s just amazing to see how we can push each other because we’re also super happy for each other. I think it’s just a really positive environment and that also just really helps and Mark has really contributed to that as well. He just keeps it positive, just do the hard work but really don’t forget to enjoy it, and he also puts a lot of attention on that and that really helps.”
