Stephan Alexander De Freitas Steverink (born 27 February 2004) is a Brazilian competitive swimmer. He won the gold medal in the 400-metre freestyle and the silver medal in the 400-metre individual medley at the 2022 World Junior Championships. At the 2021 Junior Pan American Games, he won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, silver medals in the 800-metre freestyle, 400-metre individual medley and 4×100-metre medley relay, as well as a bronze medal in the 1500-metre freestyle.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Stephan Alexander De Freitas Steverink | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 February 2004[2] Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle, individual medley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | CR Flamengo[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Background
Steverink was born 27 February 2004 to a Brazilian mother and a Dutch father and holds citizenship to Brazil and the Netherlands.[2][3] He trains and competes for CR Flamengo, continuing his contract with the sports club through the 2024 Summer Olympics and changing his training base to Rio de Janeiro in 2023.[1]
Career
2019–2021
In 2019, Steverink won medals at national age group competitions in both Brazil and Netherlands as part of figuring out which country to represent in international competitions.[4] Two years later, as part of swimming at the 2021 Junior Pan American Games held in Cali, Colombia, he won the gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, the silver medal in the 800-metre freestyle with a 8:02.64, the silver medal in the 400-metre individual medley with a 4:24.35, a silver medal in the 4×100-metre medley relay, the bronze medal in the 1500-metre freestyle with a 15:34.41, and placed eighth in the b-final of the 200-metre individual medley with a 2:25.26.[5]
2022
For the 2022 South American Youth Games, held in Rosario, Argentina in April and May, Steverink won a total of four golds medals, one each in the 400-metre freestyle, 1500-metre freestyle, 200-metre individual medley, and the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, as well as a silver medal in the 200-metre breaststroke.[6][7] At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, held at Danube Arena in June and July in Budapest, Hungary, Steverink placed sixteenth in the 400-metre individual medley with a time of 4:19.09.[8]
2022 World Junior Championships
| 2022 World Junior Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 | 400 m freestyle | 3:48.27 |
 | 400 m individual medley | 4:17.68 |
For the preliminaries of the 400-metre freestyle on day one of the 2022 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, held in Lima, Peru, Steverink ranked first with a time of 3:50.24 and qualified for the final.[9] In the evening final, he won the gold medal with a personal best time of 3:48.27, finishing less than two-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist Vlad Stancu of Romania.[10][11][12][13][14] With his win, he became the first male Brazilian swimmer to win a medal in the 400-metre freestyle at a FINA World Junior Swimming Championships and he won the first medal for Brazil at the 2022 Championships.[15] On the third day of competition, he placed sixth in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:01.21.[16][17] The next day, he led-off the 4×200-metre freestyle relay in the final with a personal best time of 1:49.02, contributing to a fourth-place finish in 7:20.13, which was just 0.20 seconds slower than the bronze medal-winning team from Poland.[18]
On the fifth morning, Steverink ranked second in the preliminary heats of the 400-metre individual medley, behind Riku Yamaguchi of Japan, with a time of 4:22.29.[19] In the evening final, he lowered his time to a 4:17.68 and won the silver medal.[20][21] The following, and final, day, he placed fourth in the 1500-metre freestyle with a time of 15:23.83, which was less than six seconds slower than bronze medalist Vlad Stancu.[22]
2022 U.S. Open Championships
Competing representing Brazil at the 2022 U.S. Open Swimming Championships, starting on 30 November in Greensboro, United States, Steverink won the bronze medal in the 800-metre freestyle with a time of 8:01.80, sharing the podium with fellow Brazilian and gold medalist Guilherme Costa and Venezuelan and silver medalist Alfonso Mestre.[23] The second day, he placed fifth in the 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3:51.60.[24] On the third evening, he finished in a time of 4:21.53 in the final of the 400-metre individual medley to place seventh.[25]
2023
At the 2023 Brazil National Swimming Championships in Recife, Steverink started off with a silver medal on day one (30 May) in the 400-metre freestyle, finishing second in a time of 3:50.79.[26] He followed up with a silver medal in the 1500-metre freestyle the following day with a time of 15:20.20.[27] On day four, he finished in a 2023 World Aquatics Championships qualifying time of 4:17.26 in the final of the 400-metre individual medley, winning the gold medal.[28] The fifth and final day, he won the bronze medal in the 800-metre freestyle with a final mark of 8:03.00.[29]
International championships
| Meet | 400 free | 800 free | 1500 free | 200 breast | 200 medley | 400 medley | 4×100 free | 4×200 free | 4×100 medley |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior level | |||||||||
| PANJ 2021 (age: 17) |  (8:02.64) |  (15:34.41) | 8th (b) (2:25.26) | (4:24.35) |  (7:24.22) | (3:44.19) | |||
| SAYG 2022 (age: 18) | (3:51.36) | — | (15:17.25) | (2:18.81) | (2:04.93) | — | [a] (h - 3:37.23) | — | |
| WJC 2022 (age: 18) | (3:48.27) | 6th (8:01.21) | 4th (15:23.83) | (4:17.68) | 4th (7:20.13) | ||||
| Senior level | |||||||||
| WC 2022 (age: 18) | 16th (4:19.09) | ||||||||
- a Steverink swam only in the preliminary heats.
Personal best times
Long course metres (50 m pool)
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 m freestyle | 1:49.02 | r | 2022 World Junior Championships | Lima, Peru | 2 September 2022 | [18] |
| 400 m freestyle | 3:48.27 | 2022 World Junior Championships | Lima, Peru | 30 August 2022 | [10] | |
| 800 m freestyle | 7:57.70 | 2022 Brazil Swimming Trophy | Rio de Janeiro | 7 April 2022 | [2] | |
| 1500 m freestyle | 15:14.86 | 2022 Brazil Swimming Trophy | Rio de Janeiro | 9 April 2022 | [2] | |
| 400 m individual medley | 4:16.44 | 2022 Brazil Swimming Trophy | Rio de Janeiro | 4 April 2022 | [2] |
Legend: r – relay 1st leg
Awards and honours
- Brazilian Olympic Committee, Year-end Junior Athletes Retrospective, highlight: 2022[30]
- Olimpíada Todo Dia, Youth Athletes Retrospective, highlight: 2022[31]