128. DEUTSCHE MEISTERSCHAFTEN, BERLIN – GERMAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OLYMPIC TRIALS (PART 1), BERLIN
- Thursday, May 5 – Sunday, May 8, 2016
- Prelims: 9 am local, Finals: 5 pm local, on Sunday: 4 pm local
- Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europa-Sportpark (SSE)
- Eventpage
- Schedule
- Start lists
- Results
Short reminder of German Olympic qualification procedure: The 2016 German National Championships are the first part of a two-step nomination procedure for the Olympic Games. The athletes had to swim defined times at National Championships in prelims and in finals. All swimmers who achieve the times will be part of the so-called “long list” and must inform German Head Coach Henning Lambertz in the period of one week after German Nationals in which meet they want to confirm the required performance of the nomination process: at one of the three meets of the Mare Nostrum tour or the German Open. They can only choose ONE of these four possibilities. For this meet, other times are set which are approximately 1,5 % slower than those at German nationals. All swimmers who reach the times and have also finished first or second at the German National Championships will qualify for Rio.
And she did it again: Alexandra Wenk improved the German record in the 100 m butterfly she set in morning’s prelims again: She finished in 57,70 in finals, six hundredths of a second faster. Yesterday, she was able to do the same in the 200 m IM: She broke Germany’s national 200 IM record for the second time in a day Saturday night, going 2:11.33 in finals. In prelims, Wenk was 2:11.41, sneaking under the oldest long course record left on Germany’s record books. The previous mark was a 2:11.73 set by Ute Geweniger back in 1981. Then, in the final, Wenk managed to cut another eight one-hundredths of a second, going 2:11.33 to lower the record for the second time in 24 hours.
Paul Biedermann is back on the top of the world: He now sits second in the world in the 200 m freestyle with his time of 1:45,45. The German swimmers showed a good team performance with Florian Vogel who set a time of 1:46,44 followed by Christoph Fildebrandt in 1:47,06 and Clemens Rapp in 1:47,63. Vogel now ranked 8th in the world. Their times are promising for the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay in Rio. Biedermann said in an interview with the German TV station “ARD” that he wanted to swim faster but that he is satisfied with his swim and the performance of his teammates. This was Paul Biedermann‘s last race at German Championships and the best line-up Germany has seen for many years in a 200 m freestyle race!
Germany’s sprint lady Dorothea Brandt made it clearly under the Rio cut in the 50 m freestyle in 24,66. So did her training partner, the 20-year old new German record holder in the 50 m freestyle Damian Wierling: he finished in a time of 21,84 followed by Björn Hornikel who missed the qualification time by four hundredths of a second. Damian Wierling broke Germany’s 50 m freestyle record in prelims, he clocked 21,81. The previous German record was set by Rafed El-Masri with a time of 21,86 in 2008. Wierling, who trains in Essen with coach Nicole Endruschat, is one of the most promising swimmers in Germany at the moment. In 2015, he had to take a break from swimming for several months because of a pericaditis but he is fully recovered.
Also Steffen Deibler missed the nomination time for an individual start in the 100 m butterfly but he should get a spot in the 4 x 100 m medley relay. Jan-Philip Glania reached in for his second individual start in Rio in the 100 m backstroke with a time of 53,61 and a possible spot in the medley relay.
Everyone held their breath during Marco Koch‘s 200 m breaststroke race: The World Champion has had shoulder problems and only finished in 2:12,51 in the morning heats. But then all went well in the final: He posted a 2:07,88 ahead of Fabian Schwingenschloegl in 2:11,52 – he did not make it under the Rio cut.
German US student Nadine Laemmler reached in for the win in the 100 m backstroke in 1:00,69 but no woman made the two required cuts. But she has the chance to get a spot in the women’s medley relay. Jessica Steiger is the 2016 German Champion in the 200 m breaststroke in 2:27,97 but also in this event no woman made it under the required cuts.
Annika Bruhn won the last A-final of the day, the 200 m freestyle in 1:58,56 followed by Sarah Köhler in 1:58,58. No it is up to Head Coach Henning Lambertz to make a decision about a women’s 4 x 200 m freestyle relay in Rio. There will be no individual starter in this event at the Olympics.
Below you find all swimmers who made it on the German “Rio longlist”:
Women:
Franziska Hentke – 400m IM, 200m Butterfly
Sarah Köhler – 400m and 800m Freestyle
Leonie Antonia Beck – 800m Freestyle
Lisa Graf – 200m Backstroke
Alexandra Wenk – 200m IM, 100m Butterfly
Dorothea Brandt – 50m Freestyle
Men:
Jacob Heidtmann – 400m IM
Johannes Hintze – 400m IM
Florian Wellbrock – 1500m Freestyle
Florian Vogel – 200 m and 400m Freestyle
Jan-Philip Glania – 100 m and 200m Backstroke
Christian Diener – 200m Backstroke
Damian Wierling – 50m Freestyle
Philip Heintz – 200m IM
Marco Koch – 200m Breaststroke
Paul Biedermann – 200m Freestyle
Christoph Fildebrandt – 200m Freestyle
Will Germany try to line any women relay?
Yes – the 4 X 100 medley relay and the 4 X 200 free relay.
Probably the 4x200m relay and the 4x100m medley. But both relays won’t have a chance to qualify for the final.
Womes 400 free relay is 100% out and i hope the same will happen with our two other relay on the womens side, so that an other nation will get our quota places. We have to rebuild womens freestlye swimming with talents like Kullmann, Gose or Hüther and then we will hopefully be in a much better position by Tokyo. Our head coch always said that its his goal to make Germany the leading european nation again by 2020, so we should give him a bit more time. The talent is definitely there, Gose is an outstanding talent, now he just has to do something good with it …
Germany quitting the medley relay would be helpful for Brazil whose selects really did a bad job (Brazil went only 4:02 last year and current aggregate top 4 times are 4 flat..So if Germany quits.. I would be really thankful!
Out 4 fastest times add up to 7:55.55, so if you subtract 1.5s for flying starts, we would be at 7:54.05. Last year it took 7:55.08 to reach the final. Our womens 800 free relay has for sure better chances to make the final than our womens 400 free relay. As head coach i would probably nominate the 4 fastest swimmers + Hüther (born in 1998) who had a time of 1:59.38 and Gose (born in 2002) who had a time of 2:01.10 and then i would try to build a relay around Gose, Kullmann (born in 1999) who had a time of 1:59.17. Especially Gose seems to improve every day and i dont see why she shouldnt be at… Read more »
Women 4×200 2016 Ranking add up times:
China: 7:45:18
Australia: 7:46:64
Italy: 7:52:86
France: 7:52:02
Japan: 7:53:61
GBR: 7:53:65
Canada: 7:50:96
Russia: 7:53:32
Sweden: 7:51:57
Brazil: 7:54:23
I think this year the time needed to qualify will be much faster..
China and Australia specially are safe.. Canada also seem ok now, Sweden is Sjostrom delivers they are ok (If not they are doomed)
Things will be pretty close for the rest, with France a little better.
Putting US there we would have US China Australia Canada and Sweden, them some teams battling a tight battle..