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
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 second part 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, will qualify for Rio.
Women’s 800 m Freestyle – slower heats
Olympic qualification standard: 8:33,33
Fastet German swimmer in this event in 2016 is Sarah Köhler with a time of 8:28,76 – under the required standard – she will start in the fastest heat tonight. In the slower heats, Josephine Tesch posted the fastest time in 8:51,94 in front of 14-year old Isabel Marie Gose in 8:55,98 – Isabel is one of many very promising youngsters who train at the Potsdamer SV and visit the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn sports school in Potsdam where many of Germany’s best swimmers like Britta Steffen got their school education.
Line-up for the timed final tonight:
(Lane/name/year of birth/swim club/entry time)
0 Sarah Bosslet 1993 SSG Saar Max Ritter 08:53,71
1 Julia Hassler 1993 SV Nikar Heidelberg 08:50,52
2 Denise Gruhn 1990 SG Dortmund 08:49,56
3 Jeannette Spiwoks 1998 SG Essen 08:43,04
4 Sarah Köhler 1994 SG Frankfurt 08:28,76
5 Leonie Antonia Beck 1997 SV Würzburg 05 08:42,22
6 Alina Jungklaus 1998 SV Würzburg 05 08:49,39
7 Svenja Zihsler 1994 SV Würzburg 05 08:50,36
8 Lea Boy 2000 Swim-Team Stadtwerke Elmshorn 08:52,21
9 Celine Rieder 2001 SSG Saar Max Ritter 08:55,15
Men’s 1500 m Freestyle – slower heats
Olympic qualification standard: 15:02,37
19-year old Florian Wellbrock is the fastest German swimmer in the 1500 m Freestyle in 15:08,05 in 2016 – he will swim in the timed final tonight.
In the morning heats, Christian Kerber swam the fastest time in 15:53,02.
Timed final tonight:
(Lane/name/year of birth/swim club/entry time)
0 Fabian Heitkemper 1997 SG Bergheim 16:03,10
1 Marcus Herwig 1996 SC Magdeburg 15:44,63
2 Felix Auböck 1996 Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 15:29,02
3 Sören Meißner 1990 SV Würzburg 05 15:22,41
4 Florian Wellbrock 1997 SC Magdeburg 15:08,05
5 Poul Zellmann 1995 SG Essen 15:11,80
6 Ruwen Straub 1993 SV Würzburg 05 15:23,41
7 Thore Bermel 1998 Swim-Team Stadtwerke Elmshorn 15:38,47
8 Rob Muffels 1994 SC Magdeburg 15:57,80
9 Patrick Lattwein 1999 SSG Saar Max Ritter 16:12,18
Women’s 400 m IM – three fastest heats
Olympic qualification standard for heats: 4:44,51
The three fastest heats are in the water. Franziska Hentke, Germany’s fastest swimmer in the 200 m Butterfly, swims in the third heat, she is also a very good individual medley swimmer. Fastest German lady in this event in 2016 is Juliane Reinhold in 4:48,03. Henke touched under the prelims nomination standard in 4:41,43, second fastest is Juliane Reinhold in 4:47,10.
Franziska Henkte; Bernd Berkhahn, German National Championships 2016, photo by Mirko Seifert.
Men’s 400 m IM – three fastest heats
Olympic qualification standard for heats: 4:19,20
Jacob Heidtmann posted a 4:16,39 at the Golden Tour Camille Muffat – only 0,02 seconds slower than the qualification time for the final tonight. Jacob finished 5th at the 2015 World Championships.
He set a great time in 4:14,95 in the morning heat, ahead of Philip Heintz who finished in 4:17,30. Also under the German Rio cut in prelims are Johannes Hintze, 17, in 4:17,35 and Kevin Wedel in 4:17,78. The qualification standard in tonight’s final is 4:16,37. Johannes Hintze set a new German age group record for 17-year-old men.
Johannes Hintze and coach Norbert Warnatzsch at German Nationals 2016 by Mirko Seifert
Also interesting:
1:46.8 in mens 800 free relay today for Vogel, in the morning with flat start. That should be a very good sign for his 400 free, for our relay and maybe also for his training partner Paul Biedermann.
His previous PB was 1:48.56 from last year and he went 3:46.53 in 400 free last year.
If he can repeat this time in the individual race he will qualify, its faster than the required time (1:47.17) and i dont think that anyone else except Biedermann can swim sub 1:47.
Wow, this is quite the convoluted qualifying process.
I understand the rationale behind the prelim/final times (if your goal is to get people in finals you want people you know can swim fast in the morning too since obviously the Olympics will be MUCH deeper), but what’s the point of the second meet?
In the past many of the german swimmers just peaked once a year. So they are tested again to verify their shape. I know it sounds very strange, but in the last two years it worked very well.
That seems odd to me. Like expecting swimmers to peak three times over the course of a single season.
I guess if it works it works though.
Here is the answer: German national head coach Henning Lambertz said this in an inverview: “I noticed in earlier days that the times German swimmers reached at the season highlights, very often were much slower than at the trials before. Statistics said that 8 of 10 swimmers performed worse at the big international meets. So our nomination procedure is an attempt to keep the performances on a good level.” This procedure obviously has worked – for example at World Championships a lot of German swimmers finished in personal best times. Lambertz also has recommended to swim the second part of the nomination procedure at German Open in exactly two months, also in the fast Berlin pool about 4 weeks away… Read more »
First of all: Thanks for the coverage!
I really liked the article about Damian Wierling (i think it was you who wrote it?).
My predictions for today:
Womens 800 free:
Köhler should have no problem to win and swim the required time. I am not very optimistic for Beck, she didnt look very good so far this season, but she might still qualify. Spiwoks might beat Beck, but i dont see her swimming the required time.
Mens 1500 free:
In my opinion there are 4 guys who can swim the required time (15:02): Wellbrock, Straub, Meißner and Zellmann. Zellmann set a new lifetime best a couple of weeks ago (15:11), but i dont think that… Read more »
Sorry, it should have been “3 other guys (Heintz, Hintze and Wedel) at 4:17” in the part about mens 400 IM.
Thank you very much for your comment!This is the perfect analysis! But I have the feeling Florian will surprise us tonight! Are you there at German nationals in Berlin?
No, sadly i will have to rely on live timing (its really sad that there is no live steam, coverage for britsh nationals was far better). Why do you think that he will surprise us? In general i would never bet on swimmers from Magdeburg at big competitions, in my opinion they often fail to perform at their best. If i would have to predict his time tonight, i would say something like 15:25.
It would be great if someone could swim sub 15:00 tonight, no german swimmer has done it in this century. The fastest german time in this century is still 15:00.90 by Lurz in 2006, no other german guy was ever faster than 15:02.37, so it… Read more »
Damian didn’t train for about 5 months I think last year, he felt very well now – but at all, he thinks that he is too far off even with his 100 m personal best to reach the nomination standard. He also was a little bit surprised by his performance in the 200 m free in Eindhoven. He does not have the 200 m on his schedule at Nats – because focused on 50 m and 100 m, was the better strategy for him after illness.
Damian said in the interview that he thinks that Biedermann and Deibler will be faster – but he did not say that they will reach the cuts!
Interesting to hear, but i dont quite understand it … I guess he knows best what he can do and what not. I know that he couldnt train much last year, but this year he had much better in-season times than ever before and i really thought that he could swim sub 48.8. I think that he will beat Biedermann and/or Deibler, unless they both swim sub 48.8. I understand that he doesnt swim 200 free, because he wouldve had no chance to qualify individually and it also wouldve been difficult for him to qualify for the relay. He should be safe for the 400 free relay (if we send a 400 free relay to Rio), his best chance to… Read more »
I would also bet on Welllbrock. He is looking very smooth, good technique and he does not need many strokes. Would not be too surprised to see him qualify for Rio.