This Dutchman is Set to Fly
Sean Niewold is a name we need to start getting used to. The 19-year-old F-Teamer from the Netherlands is well and truly on the rise in the male sprint events. With the Dutch Championships this year being held parallel to the World Championships, Sean is eyeing off the approaching Eindhoven Qualification Meet (8-10 April); the final opportunity for qualification to the 2022 World Championships and World Uni Games.
Niewold’s program will be filled by the 50/100 free and fly at the Pieter van den Hoogenband pool in Eindhoven. He has already qualified for the World Uni Games to be held later this year, but is hungry for more than just qualification. In 2021 he qualified for the European Champs as the youngest male Dutch swimmer, however was not selected. A World Championships qualifier and, even better, selection for this year’s Dutch teams would make his endeavours worthwhile.
At the Dutch open level Sean has collected multiple medals in his career thus far, but he believes he has more to give. “I want to medal at this year’s World Uni Games and soon become national senior champion in the open category,” he says.
Niewold grew up abroad and is half-Dutch, half-Kazakh. Fluent in Dutch, Russian and English, the teenager started taking his swimming seriously when he lived in Dubai. “I have travelled around a lot and have had the luxury of being exposed to many coaches and training styles. At the moment I train at WVZ Zoetermeer in The Hague, the Netherlands.”
His training is a little unorthodox, as he is also studying Mechanical Engineering full-time at the Delft University of Technology. He swims somewhere between 5 and 6 sessions per week, and hits the gym 4 to 5 times per week. “This combination of sessions allows me to pick and choose which training sessions are most convenient for me.”
It hasn’t all been enjoyment and smooth-sailing for Sean, however. The sprinter has experienced his share of injuries across his short career. In 2017 he broke a vertebrae and acquired a leaking, herniated spinal disc in 2019. This limits him in some ways in the gym and pool, yet the sky is still the limit for his training and ambitions.
As a youngster some PB pocket-money here and there inspired him to keep working hard in the pool. Ten years on and Sean is loving swimming and showing great promise, but now without the pocket money from his parents to spur him on.
All the best to Sean and the rest of our European F-Teamers for international team selection in the coming months. Be sure to keep up with Sean's achievements in and out of the pool via his socials @sean_niewold.