Negative-Splitting to Beijing

"Maarten is incredible, isn't he?" said Shelley Taylor-Smith after the men's 10K race in Seville. Maarten van der Weijden earned a spot in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim by finishing a strong fourth in the strongest field ever assembled.

Maarten is incredible for two reasons: he found himself in the very back of the lead pack, between 40th and 45th place for the first 5K, and he has been fighting leukemia since he was first diagnosed in 2001.

Maarten is known as one of the most savvy and personable open water swimmers on the pro circuit where he literally stands above the crowd at 6'-7" (202 cm). He not only openly gives advice to those less experienced than he, but he is also a swimmer who has taken negative-splitting to an entirely different level.

During the most important race of his life, Maarten had the patience to sit back in the lead pack of 45 swimmers – somewhere between 25-40 meters behind the leader David Davies – for over an hour. While the rest of the pack – including most famously Grant Hackett – were getting pounded on and thrashing with each other, Maarten was swimming calmly and without physical contact in the back, simply bidding for time.

Similar to David Davies of Great Britain who shot out to the front and stayed there, Maarten's strategy was to avoid contact…thereby, saving physical and emotional energy. "This is the way I swim," said Maarten. "It is good for me. I also have time to take good feedings."

While other swimmers fight over positioning in and out of the first several feeding stations, Maarten has the time and luxury to take good, long feeds without the pressure faced by those ahead of him.

But when the race heads into the back half of the swim, Maarten becomes the stalker. As Maarten takes advantage of his years of experience on the pro circuit, he makes his move by picking off one competitor after another. Steadily and unrelentingly, he moves his way with the pack. By the last 2K, Maarten found himself right in the lead mix, but with significantly less pounding than his competitor.

In the critical last 1000 meters, Maarten not only put himself in position to earn an Olympic spot, but he was probably the fastest man during the critical last stretch. "Maarten is so tough in that last part of the race" is a statement made by most of Maarten's competitors at one time or another over the years.

In Seville, during the last 5K of the race, Maarten closed at least 30-40 meters on the best open water swimmers in the world and three pool swimmers (Grant Hackett, David Davies and Spyridon Giannoitis of Greece) who have 1500 times of faster than 15:03. "I am happy with my swim and now we go on to Beijing."

Given Maarten's medical background, it is not surprising he succeeds with such a patient strategy. In 2001, Maarten was diagnosed with leukemia and thought his promising career was over. Despite two years of fighting cancer, he made a comeback in 2003. Since 2004, he has made his trademark negative-split swims are force to be reckoned with on the pro circuit.

But, he has also made his mark in other ways. Maarten swam across 17-mile Lake Yssel in the Netherlands in 4 hours and 20 minutes in 2004 and donated 50,000 euros (US$77,455 at the current exchange rate) to cancer research.

While Maarten's goal is to win an Olympic medal, he is already a champion in the minds of those in the open water swimming community.

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Source: Swimming World Magazine