2024 EINDHOVEN QUALIFICATION MEET
- Thursday, April 11th – Sunday, April 14th
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- LCM (50m)
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Day 2 of the 2024 Eindhoven Qualification Meet rolled on from the Netherlands but it was a German athlete who stole the show this evening.
20-year-old Cedric Buessing busted out the swim of his life to take gold in the men’s 400m IM event, stopping the clock at a time of 4:12.33.
Buessing topped the podium ahead of Dutch swimmer Thomas Jensen who hit 4:15.33 while Ukraine’s Oleksii Hrabarov bagged bronze in 4:21.12.
For Buessing, his outing crushed his previous best of 4:14.74 registered for gold at last year’s inaugural U23 Championshps in Dublin, Ireland.
Splits for his performance are as follows:
With this evening’s lifetime best, Buessing, who races for the University of Indiana (UIndy) in the NCAA, has tentatively qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. He sneaked under the 4:12.50 World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time and ranks as the #1 German 400m IM performer this season.
In fact, his 4:12.33 now renders him as Germany’s #2 performer in history, within striking distance of the longstanding German record of 4:12.08 Jacob Heidtmann put on the books nearly a decade ago.
Germany’s Top 5 Men’s LCM 400 IM Performers All-Time
- Jacob Heidtmann – 4:12.08, 2015
- Cedric Buessing -4:12.33, 2024
- Yannick Lebherz – 4:12.47, 2013
- Philip Heintz – 4:14.27, 2019
- Johannes Hintze – 4:14.72, 2016
Additionally, Buessing ranks 9th in the world on the season.
2023-2024 LCM Men 400 IM
MARCHAND
4:02.95
| 2 | Carson FOSTER | USA | 4:07.64 | 06/17 |
| 3 | TOMOYUKI MATSUSHITA | JPN | 4:08.62 | 07/28 |
| 4 | Lewis CLAREBURT | NZL | 4:08.71 | 05/11 |
| 5 | Max LITCHFIELD | GBR | 4:08.85 | 07/28 |
| 6 | Alberto RAZZETTI | ITA | 4:09.29 | 11/30 |
| 7 | Chase KALISZ | USA | 4:09.39 | 06/17 |
| 8 | Ilya BORODIN | RUS | 4:09.59 | 04/18 |
| 9 | Daiya SETO | JPN | 4:09.68 | 06/22 |
| 10 | Tomoru HONDA | JPN | 4:09.98 | 11/30 |
Buessing stated post-race, “I couldn’t believe it at first. But I worked harder than ever before. And it paid off.”
His coach Stephan Wittky commented, “I’ve already seen during training over the last few days that it’s coming together well. And that the good development will continue this year.
“The German record is no longer that far away and can now only be the next goal for us.”
Buessing’s young career has seen a steep upward trajectory with the following recent key highlights:
- 4:12.33 – 2024 Eindhoven Qualification Meet (gold)
- 4:14.74 – 2023 U23 Championships (gold)
- 4:18.08 – 2023 Pro Swim Series Westmont (5th)
- 4:18.22 – 2022 Swiss Championships (silver)
- 4:17.40 – 2021 European Junior Championships (gold)
Buessing needs to hang on through the German Championships which span April 25th – April 28th. As long as no two swimmers beat his time, he will have punched his ticket for the Olympic Games.
Quotes courtesy of the German Swimming Federation.
Why are we crediting coach Wittky? While I’m sure they played a role in his development, hasn’t a majority of his training happened at University of Indianapolis with coach Brent Noble over the past 3-4 years?
I understand and appreciate the gratitude athletes pay their past coaches for the role they have played in their complete development, but I wish international swimming federations had more respect for the development, growth and improvement so many international swimmers make in the NCAA system.
Thank you SwimSwam for referencing UIndy, but shame on the German federation for acting as if this was a completely “home grown” swim.
I get this article (the quotes at least) came mostly from a German source, but man…Buessing has been at UIndy for 3 years now. Without knowing everything going on, I have to believe the bulk of his training the last 3 years was at UIndy. The coach that should be getting the credit for the development here is Brent Nobel and his staff at UIndy. This has been a phenomenal job.
There’s a ton of really positive developing happening at the D2 level.
would be cool to see the top all time LCM swims from D2 swimmers. that’s a huge time
Would love to see a D2 swimmer make the Olympic final hope he’s able to back this up in Paris!