Olympic champion and World record holder Lukas Märtens and teammates Oliver Klemet and Florian Wellbrock made it a podium sweep in the 400m freestyle for coach Berndt Berkhahn's Magdeburg global powerhouse of distance freestyle on day 2 at the AP Race International in London.

Lukas, who became the first man to break the 3:40 barrier over eight lengths free with a World mark of 3:39.96 at the Stockholm Open on April, shook off the opposition from the go, his opening 100m opening up a 1.41sec gain on Klemet, and more than 2sec on all the rest. And that is where he won the race, maintaining a similar gap to those chasing throughout the hunt:

52.39; 1:48.87; 2:46.00; 3:42.98 Märtens 
53.80; 1:50.42; 2:48.10; 3:46.03 Klemet
54.58; 1:53.27; 2:52.27; 3:48.61 Wellbrock
54.24; 1:53.32; 2:51.95; 3:49.01 James Guy GBR
54.83; 1:53.39; 2:51.73; 3:49.50 James McMillan GBR

Märtens, 24, now has the fastest three 400m performances in the world so far this year, while Klemet (2) and Wellbrock (1) make it six slots on the global; performances top 10 for one single  training program in Germany. Add in Sven Schwartz, who set a European record of 7:38.12 in the 800m at Berlin Nationals this month, and the tally is 8/10 in the 800. And it's 6/10 in the 1500m. 

Trials are yet to be held in Australia and the somewhat disunited States, among other nations,   but 'impressive' undercooks it when it comes to coach Berkhahn's squad.

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