2024 GERMAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS (OLYMPIC TRIALS)
- Thursday, April 25th – Sunday, April 28th
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- German Olympic Selection Policy
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
- Live Results
We entered day 3 of the 2024 German Swimming Championships, the competition that represents a last-chance opportunity for swimmers to add their names to the nation’s roster for this summer’s Olympic Games.
Wasting no time staking his claim on the men’s 200m free was 22-year-old Lukas Maertens.
In this morning’s heats, 22-year-old Maertens cranked out a massive time of 1:44.89 to land lane 4 for tonight’s final.
Opening in 50.85 and closing in 54.04, Maertens set himself apart from the field by over 4 seconds. The next-closest competitor was Sven Schwarz who scored the 2nd seed in 1:49.39.
Maertens’ effort this morning checks in as the 2nd best performance of his career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 1:44.79. That PB was registered as lead-off on the German men’s 4x200m free which placed 7th at the 2023 World Championships.
Maertens has already sealed his spot on the German Olympic roster in this 200m free event, courtesy of the 1:45.33 he produced for 4th place at this year’s World Championships in Doha.
His 1:44.89 ranks him 5th in the world this season.
2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Free
POPOVICI
1:43.13
| 2 | Lukas MÄRTENS | GER | 1:44.14 | 04/27 |
| 3 | Sunwoo HWANG | KOR | 1:44.40 | 09/27 |
| 4 | Matthew RICHARDS | GBR | 1:44.69 | 04/07 |
| 5 | Duncan SCOTT | GBR | 1:44.75 | 04/07 |
We’ll see what Maertens can turn in during tonight’s final as a follow-up to the head-turning 3:40.33 400m free he registered on night one. That performance rendered Maertens the 4th-best performer in history, sitting just .26 away from retired Paul Bidermann‘s seemingly untouchable world record of 3:40.07 that’s been on the books since 2009.
Martens is the real deal. Excited to see what he does in the 200 back (1:54 🙏🙏🙏)
New German record (1:55.8) is probably coming…
Very interesting 200 free developing in Paris. Martens now is the World #1 on paper but he’s only recently started training for the 200 and it’s very easy to go wrong with your pacing in the Olympic final. The most “steady” hand and safest bet in this race is probably still Richards, but there’s also Hwang who’s a perennial threat and of course Popovici, who even if he only recovers 90% of his 2022 form would be the clear favorite to win.
I think it will be hard for David, this time is only 0.8 slower than David’s 2022 worlds time, and I have no doubt there will be a few 1:43s
Maybe. There’s lots of momentum/energy in this event, but many races at the Olympics seem to turn into just ‘get your hand on the wall first’ despite the number of potential candidates to break a record/threshold
E.g. M100 free, M400 IM, W100 Breast, W100 Fly all during 2020
Moment of silence for Danas Rapsys falling out All Time Top 10 Performers.
What happened between worlds and now, he is cooking
1:44.14 wow. The 200 final in Paris is gonna be insane. How has he historically done with a double taper? Always a shame to see a super fast trials time and then not hitting when it counts.
He was slightly slower than his in-season times in 2022 but tapered well for Fukuoka. I would say too little data to determine a real pattern.
Think that’s what makes things most exciting when it comes to the Olympic final – it’s not just form it’s who can handle the pressure and execute their strategy with everything on the line. Can’t wait.
I wouldn’t really call what he’ll be doing a double taper. We’re still over 3 months out from Paris, so he has time to hit another hard training block before tapering again
Maybe not quite the right name for it, but it’s definitely happened in the past that people don’t go faster than they did at trials at the big event. Potentially less of an issue in Germany vs the US for example.
Martens announcing himself as a gold medal contender in the 200 as well as the 400 free. World #1 in both events for the qualifying period (April 2023-present)
1:44.14. great swim!!!(24.27/50.71)
1.44.14 damn 4th textile all time
Oops meant 5th, forgot Thorpe