2025 Berlin Swim Open
- Friday, April 25th – Sunday, April 27th
- Prelims at 9:30am local (3:30am ET)/Finals at 4pm local (10am ET)
- Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark, Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
Anna Elendt headlined Day 1 of the Berlin Swimming Open, as she cracked the 1:06 barrier in the 100 breaststroke to rank #4 in the world this year. You can read more about that swim here.
The Texas-based swimmer dominated tonight’s final to win by over five and a half seconds, as she backed up her season-best 1:07.01 from this morning with her fastest swim since 2022. With splits of 31.15-34.82, she was a hundredth faster than the time she went to win silver in Budapest that summer
Rafael Miroslaw out-touched 2005-born Philipp Peschke in the men’s 200 freestyle 1:47.48 to 1:47.69, as the two were the only swimmers under the 1:50 mark. Miroslaw was up by half a second at the 50, 24.55 to 25.06, and was outsplit by Peschke on each of the next three 50s as he just managed to hold on at the end.
This was an impressive swim by Peschke, taking half a second off his entry time of 1:48.24 and keeping all four 50s under 28 seconds. He’s put himself squarely in the running to be on the men’s 4×200 free relay this summer with that, ranking as the fourth-fastest German this year. His time tonight was faster than two of the splits Germany had in the Paris final where they finished eighth.
For Miroslaw, this appears to be the first long course race of the season in this event, and is slightly slower than the 1:46.11 he went in April last year. He shaved three-hundredths off his time from prelims.
His best time stands at the 1:45.83 he went in April 2023, and after being over a second off his best time in yards at NCAAs he will need to take some time off to hit the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut. Lukas Martens is likely to swim the event after going 1:45.55 in Stockholm two weeks ago, so an ‘A’ cut would be necessary for Miroslaw to join him.
Cedric Buessing was the runaway winner in the men’s 400 IM, winning by over ten seconds in a time under the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut for the event. After throwing down a time of 4:20.18 to lead prelims by 14 seconds, he knocked four seconds off this evening to go 4:16.11. That included a very solid 1:11.91 breaststroke split, a good sign at this point in the season for the Olympic finalist.
A nailbiting finish in the men’s 50 backstroke went to National Record holder Ole Braunschweig, as he untouched Vincent Passek 24.89 to 24.91. That marked Passek’s second time under 24 seconds after his 24.87 this morning, slicing nearly a quarter of a second off his previous best of 25.11.
The two remain as the top-two Germans this season, and both got under the ‘A’ cut of 25.11 for Singapore this summer. Braunschweig holds the German record with the 24.57 he swam in Fukuoka in 2023.
Melvin Imodou, the fourth-place finisher in the 100 breaststroke in Paris, took first in the event today as the only man under 1:02. He was just over the minute mark, swimming a time of 1:00.32 to take a dominant win.
Other Winners
- Selina Muller won the women’s 200 free in a time of 2:03.96, outpacing what was a youth-oriented final in which she was the only swimmer over the age of 18. That was just off her best time of 2:03.55 from 2024. The top seed from prelims, Lisa Seidel, scratched the final after going 2:01.44 to take top spot this morning.
- Laura Sophie Kohlmann broke 4:50 for the first time to win the 400 IM, as the 2009-born swimmer won the event by over ten seconds in 4:48.50. She stormed home in 1:05.53 to smash through the barrier after coming in with an entry time of 4:50.01.
- Angelina Kohler was the top seed for the women’s 50 backstroke after the morning heats with a time of 29.24, but scratched the final. That opened up an opportunity for Maria Smilbach to take the win in 30.62, 0.13 ahead of second.
- Lena Von Bonin won the women’s 200 fly in 2:14.08 as one of two women under the 2:20 barrier. Yaya Fay Riefenstahl was the fastest out of the heats in 2:13.12, but couldn’t match the early speed she’d had there in the final and was run down by the Dresden swimmer
- On the men’s side Louis Schubert and Turkey’s Arda Akkoyun were separated by less than a tenth, with Akkoyun nearly running the leader Schubert down with a 31.30 final 50. Schubert just held on in 1:58.94 to Akkoyun’s 1:59.03, although that was a 6.5 second PB for the 2007-born Turkish swimmer.
- Melina Nitchke won the women’s 1500 freestyle in 17:07.88, whilst Jonas Kuschke did so for the men in 15:53.28
Good on Buessing bouncing back