Alexandra Wenk Re-Breaks German 200 IM Record With 2:11.33

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

Alexandra Wenk 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. Wenk’s prelims swim took down the 35-year-old record, leaving the women’s 400 IM record (set in 1982 by Petra Schneider) as the oldest record still remaining.

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.

Wenk won the national title by 2.6 seconds in the race, setting herself up for an Olympic bid in the process. Germany’s Olympic selection procedures, while not set to extraordinary highs like some other nations this spring, are still among the more challenging worldwide. That’s because the German federation requires athletes to hit at least a certain time in prelims, then another, faster time in finals, plus “prove” the swim by hitting another cut time at a meet later this year.

Wenk should be in good shape to do so, though. She was almost three seconds under the prelims cut time and a solid 1.6 seconds under the finals cut time as well.