Marrit Steenbergen overhauls Siobhan Haughey to break women’s 100m freestyle world record
Netherlands’ two-time world champion betters 2017 mark after overtaking the Hong Kong swimmer at the midway point at Rome meet
Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen broke the women’s 100 metres freestyle world record on Saturday, clocking 51.68 seconds at the Sette Colli International Trophy in Rome.
The 26-year-old reigning world champion bettered the 51.71 that Sweden’s Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom posted at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest.
Steenbergen finished ahead of Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (52.52) and Italy’s Sara Curtis (52.69) in the Rome meet.
Haughey had led at the midway point in 24.94 but Steenbergen pulled out a huge turn and expanded her margin.
A two-time world champion in the 100 freestyle – Doha 2024 and Singapore 2025 – Steenbergen is the only woman to break 52 seconds in the discipline on multiple occasions.
“It still feels so weird … I hope that it will sink in,” Steenbergen said after beating the world record.