Lukas Märtens Flips Over To Give 200 Back Specialists Fright Of A Fight: 1:56.00, 0.13 Shy Of 12-Year-Old German Record
Was war das denn? … And for his third victory at German Championships in Berlin, Lukas Märtens claimed the … 200m backstroke title, in an 1:56.00, just 0.13sec shy of the 12-year-old national record owned by Jan-Philip Glania.
Märtens started the meet with a 3:40.33 World-record rattler over 400m freestyle on Thursday. He added a 1:44.14 stunner in the 200m freestyle yesterday and today was the living embodiment of the first words he spoke after emerging from that eight-lap scorcher: Was war das denn? – Answer: Schnell!
When you’re on form, you’re on form and the SC Magdeburg ace backed up on backstroke through splits of 26.67, 55.89 and 1:25.87 before a closing 30.13, leaving the specialist crew reeling, multiple-times champion Christian Diener, Potsdamer SV, on 1:58.22 for silver, the bronze to Cornelius Jahn, Ahrensburger TSV, in 1:58.58.
Märtens Marches From 37th to 2nd On German All-Time Performances
Märtens previous best was a 1:57.54 at a national time trial in 2021 Covid lockdown. That made him 5th best in his country all-time with the 37th best performance ever by a German swimmer. Now, he’s No 2 performer with the number 2 performance, having leap-frogged Helge Meeuw, Yannick Lebherz and Diener, with a best of 1:56.27 from the Rio 2016 Olympics, all in one go.
Wellbrock 14:42, Via 7:70 800 Split Matching The Solo Swim He Sacrificed For Paris Power
That and a 14:42.28 win for Märtens training partner Florian Wellbrock made it another fine day for coach Bernd Berkhahn at the Europa Park Schwimmhalle in the German capital, with the three top challengers in the women’s 800m free still to come.
Nearest to the Olympic Marathon champion was the fastest German qualifier for the Paris 2024 800m free, Sven Schwarz, W98 Hannover, on 14:49.22, Oliver Klemet, SG Frankfurt, third in 14:58.64, for a sub-15 podium.
Wellbrock will race the 1500m in the pool in the first week of action in Paris before taking to the River Seine as defending champion in the marathon in the second week. He won the 800m in 7:50 at nationals, but Schwarz and Klemet had faster times from earlier in the qualification window.
Rare for a swimmer to truly excel in the 800, 1500 and the marathon at the same meet. Something usually has to give. Wellbrock, his and Berkhahn’s experience of handling heavy loads and learning from the flow of gold to struggle in a matter of a week, has already got what usually has to give out of the way.
His 7:50 (and no faster) win in the 800m is simply where he’s at in the stream to where he’s going in faster waters come August: today, he split 7:50.25 on the way to his 14:42.
Gose Goes Under 8:20
To round off a happy day for coach Berkhahn, Isabel Gose was out in 4:07.50 and home in 8:19.48 in the 800m freestyle, her Paris berth already in the bag before Berlin titles. Two others on the team for nParis in other events, Gose’s teammates Moesha Johnson, 8:27.56, and Lukas’ sister Leonie Märtens, 8:33.40, completed the podium,
In other finals, there were national titles for Maya Werner, SV Nikar Heidelberg, on 2:11.54 in the 200m backstroke; her teammate Lena Ludwig, 17, on 2:27.45 in the 200m breaststroke, her time a German age record; and Maximilian Pilger, SG Essen, on 2:12.15 in the 200m breaststroke.
The championships ended with the 50m free finals. Nina Sandrine Jazy, the 18-year-old from SG Essen, set a 24.91 age record for the win in the women’s final ahead of Jessica Felsner, SC Aqua Köln, 25.12, and Nele Schulze, SG Neukölln e.V. Berlin, 25.14.
In the men’s final, Artem Selin, SC Wiesbaden 1911 clocked 21.90 for victory, Adelaide-based Josha Salchow, for SV Nikar Heidelberg on 22.06 for silver after 100m victory this week and a sub-48sec Paris qualifier last week, the bronze to Moritz Schaller, SG Bayer, in 22.38.
The non-Olympic 50 ‘fly titles went to Luca Nik Armbruster, SG Neukölln e.V. Berlin, in 23.30, and his teammate Angelina Köhler, World 100 ‘fly champion from Doha 2024, in 25.99.