Vanotterdijk Caps Stellar EK with Bronze in 200m Medley, Eyes Olympic Future
Belgian swimmer Roos Vanotterdijk has completed a remarkable European Championships campaign in Paris, securing bronze in the 200-meter individual medley on Saturday. The 21-year-old from Heusden-Zolder touched the wall in 2’10”10, finishing just 0.03 seconds behind Italy’s Anita Gastaldi (2’10”07) and behind Ireland’s Ellen Walshe, who took gold in 2’09”81. According to Sporza, Vanotterdijk qualified for the final with the eighth-fastest time (2’12”07), barely making the cut.
A Third Medal in Three Colors
The bronze completes a stunning medal haul for Vanotterdijk at EK Paris 2026: gold on the 100m butterfly, silver on the 50m butterfly, and now bronze on the 200m individual medley. She also placed ninth in the 100m freestyle, competing across six race days with five morning-evening double sessions. As Het Laatste Nieuws reported, the swimmer described the achievement as “heel mooi om dit er nog uit te persen” (very beautiful to squeeze this out) after such an intensive week.
The ‘Project’ That Paid Off
Vanotterdijk has long referred to the 200m individual medley as her “projectje” (little project), an event she has not raced extensively at major competitions. After the race, she told Sporza: “So far it was a bit of searching and going up and down, it was still a little project. But now I just wanted to put down the best possible result and enjoy it at the same time. I’m very happy, it was really a beautiful race.”
Her surprise at her own performance was evident. “After the breaststroke I came up and I was still in front,” she said. “I thought: oops, what happened? Where is everyone?”
Her time of 2’10”10 was just 0.37 seconds off her own Belgian record of 2’09”73, set at the French Championships in Montpellier in June 2025. That record time would have placed her sixth in the Olympic final at Paris 2024, underscoring her potential on this demanding event.
Coach Faber’s Breaststroke Expertise
A key factor in Vanotterdijk’s development in the medley is her coach, Mark Faber, who previously guided Dutch breaststroke specialists Arno Kamminga, Tes Schouten, and Caspar Corbeau to Olympic medals. As Het Laatste Nieuws detailed, Faber’s expertise in breaststroke—traditionally Vanotterdijk’s weakest leg—could be the key to unlocking her full potential in the medley.
Vanotterdijk has already shown remarkable progress in breaststroke. In November 2025, she swam a Belgian record of 2’18”07 in the 200m breaststroke (short course) at the Belgian Championships in Ghent, seemingly out of nowhere. Faber recalled his astonishment: “I train with Tes Schouten, an Olympic bronze medalist on 200m breaststroke. And then Roos comes out of nowhere last year and says: ‘I think it’s fun to try the 200m breaststroke once’ and she swims 2:18… I stood there (waves hands): ‘How do you do that?’”
Olympic Strategy for LA 2028
With the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as her primary target, analysts are debating how Vanotterdijk should balance her events. Sporza swimming analyst Sidney Appelboom believes the 100m butterfly should remain her priority. “On the 50 and 100m butterfly, Roos is world-class,” he told Sporza. “Build maybe one or two events around that, but really go for that butterfly.”
Appelboom dismissed the 100m freestyle as an Olympic option, saying “you have nothing to win there at the Olympics.” However, he sees value in continuing to develop the 200m medley. “I think you first need to look at that progress on the 200 medley for another year and do the test there,” he said.
A Positive Balance
Reflecting on her overall EK performance in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, Vanotterdijk said: “I can only look back positively on this EK. Compared to last year’s World Championships we really took big steps.” She noted that her times on the 50m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, and 200m medley were all close to personal bests.
“That’s what it’s starting to be about now,” she said, “to always stand among those world stars.”
What’s Next
Vanotterdijk now heads into a well-deserved break before planning the next season with coach Faber. The VRT NWS report confirmed this was her third medal of the championships. With the World Championships and LA 2028 on the horizon, the question is not whether Vanotterdijk can compete at the highest level—she has proven that emphatically—but how she will strategically deploy her remarkable versatility across multiple events.
“I love challenges,” she said with a smile. “This is really something for me. But now I’m going to recover first and enjoy vacation. From next season we’ll go at it again.”