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Nyls KORSTANJE
Sport Swimming
NOC Netherlands   
GenderMen
Born05 Feb 1999 in Sneek, NED
Height1.88 m
 Human Interest 
Further Personal Information
Residence
Raleigh, NC, USA
Sport Specific Information
Club / Team
North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC, USA
Further Personal Information
Higher education
Material Engineering, Materials Science - North Carolina State University: Raleigh, NC, USA
General Interest
Famous relatives
His younger brother Tim has competed in swimming for the Netherlands at junior level, including at the 2021 European Junior Championships in Rome, Italy. (teamnl.org, 01 Dec 2020; SportsDeskOnline, 01 Dec 2021)
Most influential person in career
Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband. (teamnl.org, 01 Dec 2020, 14 Oct 2020)
Hero / Idol
US swimmer Caeleb Dressel, Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband. (slamstox.com, 09 Jul 2020; teamnl.org, 01 Dec 2020, 14 Oct 2020)
Ambitions
To win a National Collegiate Athletic Association [NCAA] title, and to work as an engineer after his swimming career. (netherlandsnewslive.com, 11 Apr 2021; slamstox.com, 09 Jul 2020; teamnl.org, 14 Oct 2020)
Awards and honours
In 2019 he was named Atlantic Coast Conference [ACC] Freshman of the Year while competing for North Carolina State University in the United States of America. (swimswam.com, 01 Sep 2019)
Sport Specific Information
Name of coach
Mark Faber [national], NED
When and where did you begin this sport?
He began swimming as a child in Boston, MA, United States of America.
Further Personal Information
Occupation
Athlete, Student
Languages
Dutch, English
General Interest
Other information
USA EXPERIENCE
He lived in Boston, MA, United States of America, from age six to nine after his family moved there when his father took a job as a scientific researcher in the city. He returned to the United States of America when he took up a scholarship to swim for North Carolina State University in 2018. "America is a very sports-driven country. I had already experienced that as a little boy when we lived [in Boston]. Sport is very important in the culture; athletes there are really superstars, like the way we look at singers here in the Netherlands. Swimming is relatively small in America, especially if you compare it to baseball, American football or basketball, but because sport is so alive there, there is still a lot of funding for it and it's very professional. The main drive in America is not the performance of the individual, but of the team. Pieter van den Hoogenband once said that he had a great need for a team during the Olympic Games in Sydney, and that he therefore spent a lot of time with the water polo players. I recognise that - when you work as a team, it brings a lot of fun with it." (teamnl.org, 14 Oct 2020)

COMPARISONS TO PIETER VAN DEN HOOGENBAND
At age 11 he broke Dutch youth records set by Pieter van den Hoogenband and Maarten van der Weijden, which led to the Dutch media dubbing him 'the new Pieter van den Hoogenband'. After hearing about Korstanje, van den Hoogenband got in touch and began to act as a personal mentor. "I am sometimes called the new Pieter van den Hoogenband. That is a great honour, but also a burden on your shoulders. If you achieve less than him, no one will be impressed. What he has done is very special. He has been named the greatest Olympian by the NOS [Dutch Olympic Committee]. The bond between me and Pieter is like a fan and a rock star - I really look up to him. During the EYOF [European Youth Olympic Festival] in 2015, he was my chef de mission. I won gold there, and he was there watching live. That was very special. In the run-up to Tokyo [2020], my qualifying was not ideal, so I emailed him and asked if he could help. He sent me an extensive email back with advice. It's very special when someone makes an effort for you in that way." (teamnl.org, 01 Dec 2020)

PHYSICAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
As a sprint swimmer, he has said he believes that his lightweight build is one of his strengths, while his relatively small feet are a weakness. In 2020 he weighed 83kg, an increase of six kilograms from when he was a junior, which he said was partly due to eating fattening foods while studying in the United States of America. "Yes, if I could change one thing about my body, it would be bigger feet and bigger hands. Those with big feet swim like they're wearing fins. Yes, I've gained six kilos, so I'm not a skinny boy anymore. But as for muscles, I'm not a big boy like [Dutch simmer] Kyle Stolk either - he's twice as strong as me. But my strongest point is, of course, that I am light and need relatively little energy to travel through the water fast." (volksrant.nl, 04 Dec 2020)

SIBLING RIVALRY
He says he has a healthy sporting rivalry with his younger brother Tim. "Tim broke a lot of my early childhood records. It would have been great if we had been the same age, because then we would have had a lot of fun in the pool. We have that now though, and it's nice to have similar goals between us. During the [COVID-19] lockdown, we played a lot of sport together, improved our strength in our [home-made] gym shed, and cycled hard all around Nijmegen [Netherlands]." (teamnl.org, 01 Dec 2020)

 Competition Highlights
Olympic Games
Rank Year Venue Event Result
12 2021 Tokyo, JPN 100m Butterfly 51.80
Heats 2021 Tokyo, JPN 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay  
6 2021 Tokyo, JPN 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:41.25
World Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
9 2024 Doha, QAT 50m Butterfly 23.25
4 2024 Doha, QAT 100m Butterfly 51.41
2 2024 Doha, QAT 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:31.23 
  2024 Doha, QAT 4 x 100m Medley Relay DSQ
5 2023 Fukuoka, JPN 100m Butterfly 51.05
Semifinal 2023 Fukuoka, JPN 50m Butterfly 23.23
4 2023 Fukuoka, JPN 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:41.81
10 2022 Budapest, HUN 50m Butterfly 23.14
Semifinal 2022 Budapest, HUN 100m Butterfly 51.41
3 2022 Budapest, HUN 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:41.54
Heats 2019 Gwangju, KOR 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay  
Heats 2019 Gwangju, KOR 4 x 100m Medley Relay  
World Championships Short Course
Rank Year Venue Event Result
Semifinal 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 100m Butterfly 50.59
Heats 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 50m Butterfly 22.53
8 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 50m Medley Relay 1:33.43
3 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 1:23.75
8 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:08.84
Heats 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 100m Medley Relay  
3 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay  
7 2022 Melbourne, VIC, AUS 4 x 50m Medley Relay  
6 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 50m Butterfly 22.39
Semifinal 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 100m Butterfly 50.11
6 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:26.59
4 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:06.10
1 2021 Abu Dhabi, UAE 4 x 50m Medley Relay  
37 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 100m Freestyle 48.54 
32 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 50m Freestyle 21.95 
2 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 1:29.82
5 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 1:25.22
6 2016 Windsor, ON, CAN 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:09.87
European Championships
Rank Year Venue Event Result
4 2022 Rome, ITA 50m Butterfly 23.10
7 2022 Rome, ITA 100m Butterfly 51.79
1 2022 Rome, ITA 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:41.73
6 2022 Rome, ITA 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:26.08
Semifinal 2021 Budapest, HUN 100m Butterfly 52.25
5 2021 Budapest, HUN 50m Butterfly 23.14
Heats 2021 Budapest, HUN 100m Freestyle 49.46
2 2021 Budapest, HUN 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:41.28
8 2021 Budapest, HUN 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:13.79
6 2018 Glasgow, SCO 50m Butterfly 23.38
Heats 2018 Glasgow, SCO 50m Freestyle 22.74
Semifinal 2018 Glasgow, SCO 100m Freestyle 49.33
2 2018 Glasgow, SCO 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:23.97
7 2018 Glasgow, SCO 4 x 100m Medley Relay 3:35.24
6 2018 Glasgow, SCO 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay 3:14.60
European Championships Short Course
Rank Year Venue Event Result
Semifinal 2017 Copenhagen, DEN 100m Freestyle 47.34
Semifinal 2017 Copenhagen, DEN 50m Freestyle 21.35
7 2017 Copenhagen, DEN 4 x 50m Medley Relay  
4 2017 Copenhagen, DEN 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 1:24.61
1 2017 Copenhagen, DEN 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 1:28.39
World Cup Short Course
Rank Year Venue Event Result
8 2017 Eindhoven, NED 50m Freestyle 21.59