Kromowidjojo sticking around for Tokyo

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands: Buoyed by becoming the first woman to dip under 23 seconds for 50-metre freestyle, veteran Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands said on Thursday she would continue her career through to the next Olympic Games.

She won gold in London in 2012 in the 50m and 100m freestyle, but she has since been overshadowed in by younger rivals like Canadian teenager Penny Oleksiak, Bronte Campbell of Australia, Simone Manuel of the US and Swede Sarah Sjostrom, who set a new world record of 23.69 seconds in winning the 50m at the World Championships in Budapest last month.

“I thought it would be more difficult to keep going, physically, but I’m still standing,” said Kromowidjojo, now 26. “I said I would continue until the World Championships in Budapest, and after that I would decide whether to keep swimming, but I knew before Budapest that I would.

“”So I decided today, because there was a press conference, that I would tell everybody, and then the word is out.

“That way, nobody is talking about my last races coming up and putting pressure on me. I really love swimming, and love improving at it, getting better every day.”Kromowidjojo set a time of 22.93 for the 50m at the short course World Cup event in Berlin on Monday.  —Reuters