The Dutch Student Swimming Competition (Nederlandse Studenten Zwem Kompetitie, NSZK) consists out of four competitions per season. These competition are suitable for all students, provided that they are studying at either HBO or university and are a member of a student swimming association connected to Stichting NSZ. There are currently 12 associations battling for the title in the competition. Each associations organizes at least once every three years an NSZK, so that each NSZK is in a different city. An NSZK-weekend starts with a predrink at Friday night. The competition is on Saturday followed by a dinner. The weekend ends with a splashing party. NSZKs are suitable for each level. Beginners who are swimming their first compitition and people who are swimming at a national level participate in the same competition. There are usually around 400 participants.
Dates 2022-2023
NSZK I |
08-10-2022 |
Nijmegen |
NSZK II |
10-12-2022 |
Rotterdam |
NSZK III |
15-04-2023 |
Amsterdam |
NSZK IV |
03-06-2023 |
Enschede |
* The ONKS isn’t added in this table, since the ONKS is unrelated to the NSZK. Click here for more information.
For potential cancellations of NSZKs due to COVID-19, please also keep an eye on our news page: stichtingnsz.nl/en/stichting/news
Rankings and results
The current ranking of season 2022-2023 after the second NSZK in Rotterdam:
Scoring NSZK
The scoring at NSZKs differs from the scoring at the regular KNZB competitions. At the regular KNZB competitions the long distances counts for relatively many points (when you get disqualified at a long distance and get a replacement time, you lose more points than when this happens at a 50 meter distance). At the student competition we value the accessibility of the competition. That’s why all 50 meter distances are swum at each NSZK en they count for as many points as the longer distances. You can read below how this works.
The scoring goes as follows: for each program the fastest swimmer(s) swims for points. It depends on the distance how many swimmers swim for points:
- 50m: 2 swimmers
- 100m: 2 swimmers
- 200/400m: 1 swimmer
- Relays: 1 team
The times are recalculated to 50m times: the times for a 200m distance are divided by four, the times fo a 4x100m relay are divided by 8. Each second is one point. A 2:20,00 at a 200m freestyle accounts for 35 points, provided that it is swum by the fastest swimmer of the association. All points of all swimmers who are swimming for the points are added up. All these points together results in the total score of the association. In other words, if you swim faster, you get less points, so less points is better.
If an association does not have enough swimmers at a program, either because of not enough members or a disqualification, a replacement time will be filled in. These replacement times corresponds to 200 FINA-points for that distance/stroke/gender. When the swimmers swim slower than this replacement time, the replacement time will be taken instead of the time of the swimmer.
Program and rules: The swimming program of the season 2022-2023 can be seen below:
NSZK 1 |
NSZK 2 |
NSZK 3 |
NSZK 4 |
4×50 backstroke mix 100 freestyle w 100 freestyle m 50 butterfly w 50 butterfly m 100 backstroke w 100 backstroke m 50 freestyle w 50 freestyle m 200 breaststroke w 200 breaststroke m 50 backstroke w 50 backstroke m 100 butterfly w 100 butterfly m 400 freestyle w 400 freestyle m 50 breststroke w 50 breaststroke m 4×100 freestyle w 4×100 freestyle m |
4×50 butterfly mix 100 breaststroke w 100 breaststroke m 50 freestyle w 50 freestyle m 100 butterfly w 100 butterfly m 50 backstroke w 50 backstroke m 200 freestyle w 200 freestyle m 50 breaststroke w 50 breaststroke m 200 medley w 200 medley m 100 backstroke w 100 backstroke m 50 butterfly w 50 butterfly m 4×50 freestyle w 4×50 freestyle m |
4×50 breaststroke mix 100 freestyle w 100 freestyle m 50 backstroke w 50 backstroke m 100 butterfly w 100 butterfly m 50 breaststroke w 50 breaststroke m 400 medley w 400 medley m 50 freestyle w 50 freestyle m 200 backstroke w 200 backstroke m 100 breaststroke w 100 breaststroke m 50 butterfly w 50 butterfly m 4×100 medley w 4×100 medley m |
4×50 medley w 4×50 medley m 100 breaststroke w 100 breaststroke m 50 freestyle w 50 freestyle m 100 medley w 100 medley m 50 backstroke w 50 backstroke m 200 butterfly w 200 butterfly m 100 freestyle w 100 freestyle m 50 butterfly w 50 butterfly m 100 backstroke w 100 backstroke m 50 breaststroke w 50 breaststroke m 8×50 freestyle mix |
A few points are different in the rules of NSZK than those of the KNZB. These are the next points:
- During the KNZB competition participants can be substituted at all times. During NSZKs this is only possible for relays, individual swimmers cannot be substituted (HR article 3.12). This is to relieve pressure on the jury, who had a lot of stress due to all the last minute changes in the past.
- The scoring at NSZKs differs from the regular KNZB competition. Look at “Scoring NSZK” for more information.
- Participants do not need to have a starting license at NSZKs. Stichting NSZ gets dispensation from the KNZB each year. If they want to, swimmers with a starting license can swim under their license, so that their times are official. At each NSZK there are official jury members who are overseeing this.
- Participants can swim two distances at maximum per NSZK. This rule is added because of the growth of student swimming every year and the competitions getting longer because of that.
Records
The fastest times ever swum at an NSZK can be found via this link.