Märtens Lays Down 3:41 Marker To Keep German 400 Free Crown In Berlin
World record holder lays down his fifth fastest of seven sub-3:42sec efforts over 400m free as nationals get underway in Germany; Angelina Köhler at the double with victories in the 100 'fly and 50 free; and Cedric Büssing books ticket to Paris Europeans with 5th straight 400IM title
Olympic and World champion Lukas Märtens provided the pace highlight on the opening day of German Championship and selection trials in Berlin went a bombastic 3:41.76 victory in the 400m freestyle.
The time is the second fastest run the wold this year, after the 3:41.55 of Zhang Zhanshuo, the 18-year-old from China who made his latest mark on a steep curve of progress at Chinese Spring nationals/China Open last month.
Victory in Berlin marked the fifth fastest time of Märtens' career, his seven sub 3:42s topped bevy the World record of 3:39.96, the first and only sub-3:40 in history, from a year ago:
Craig Lord
Märtens, coached at Germany's Magdeburg Performance Centre by Bernd Berkhahn, showed relief at the end of the swim: a 3:41 is quite some swim for a swimmer who had felt under the weather coming into the championships. A sign, perhaps, of greater speed to come when the summer is long and the heat is on in Paris come the European Championships August 10-16.
Sven Schwarz, of Hannover, raced inside the cut for Paris in heats before withdrawing from the final, in which Christian Giefing (3:49.50) and Arne Schubert (3:51.35) were closest to Märtens and Simon Brugger race 0.01sec inside the cut for the European Junior Championships in 3:54.00 :
Women's 100m butterfly:
Angelina Köhler, coached by Lasse Frank at Germany's SG Neukölln Berlin Performance Centre, stole the show in the women's events with a 56.35 triumph in the 100m butterfly, off a 26.27 half-way split.
Köhler was back in the fray three finals later for a 24.81 win in the 50m freestyle, Fourth in the Olympic 100 'fly final in Paris two years ago, among those ahead of her one of the China 23-go-free who tested positive for a banned substance but was given a 'no-case-to-answer' ticket on grounds of contamination, Köhler was a class apart today, though the next way is on its way.
Yara Fay Riefstahl, of Chemnitz and born in the year Britta Steffen claimed Olympic gold in the 50-100m freestyle (2008), set a German junior record of 58.23 for second place. Her 50m split a 26.92.
Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the first sub-minute by a woman in the 100m butterfly: East Germany's Christiane Knacke was the swimmer, and an athlete who in the 1980s revealed what underpinned her performance, and reinforced that by providing testimony against those who doped her in the GDR's systematic doping program of the 1970s and 1980s. those times are water under the bridge - and yet still with us.
Meanwhile, Germany's 100m 'fly final for women in Berlin today:
Women's 50m freestyle - Köhler At The Double
Men's 400m Medley
A fifth consecutive German title in the event went to national record holder Cedric Büssing in 4:13.56 minutes, good for a ticket to Paris. He trains under the guidance of coach Stephan Wittky, who celebrated silver, too, when his second charge in the battle, Finn Hammer, clocked 4:18.23, a frustrating 0-.7sec shy of the time needed for automatic selection to the showdown in France:
Third-placed Jannes Schmidt, who was born in 2009 - the years Paul Biedermann (and a shiny suit) set thumping world records to claim the 200 and 400m free World titles in Rome, clocked 4:26.69for a European Junior Championships cut.
Women's 400m freestyle - Gose Keeps The Crown
Isabel Gose maintained her dominance of Germany's distance events with a 4:02.92 win ahead of Magdeburg teammate Maya Werner, on 4:06.18 after having shadowed her training partner to the 100 and 200m marks:
Men's 100m 'Fly: Winkler Atop A op 4 Split by 0.07sec
Just 0.7 separated the top four home: Kaii Winkler took the title in 51.82, followed by defending champion Luca Armbruster (51.85), Björn Kammann (51.88) and Josha Salchow (51.89). All four made the Paris cut but it was Armbruster who secured a spot on the German medley relay for Paris, as the man with the fastest average time from heats and final, which looked like this:
Fourth in the 'fly final, Salchow was back in towards the end of the session for victory in the 50m freestyle
Continue to read more finals and results from day one in Berlin...
