One day before the start of the pool competition at the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, Germany’s world record holder Paul Biedermann said in an interview with the online magazine Bild.de that he doesn’t think that his 2015 best time of 1:45,60 will be fast enough – even for a bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle:” Therefore you have to swim more than a second faster than my 2015 World best time of 1:45,60. For gold, it would probably be even more. ” Biedermann predicts a winning time of 1:44 or faster in the 200 m Freestyle. He is sure that there are some swimmers who are able to swim this fast – even with the absence of Yannick Agnel, France, and Park Tae-Hwan, South Korea.
Biedermann is the World record holder in the 200 m and 400 m Freestyle – he has set both records at the 2009 World Championships in Rome – in a high-tech suit. Two years later in Shanghai he reached, then in a textile jammer, two bronze medals in both distances. He won’t compete in the 400 m Freestyle in Kazan and hasn’t made a definite statement about his swimming schedule for Rio 2016 so far. Paul hasn’t won a medal at Olympic Games. He stated that he will retire after the 2016 Olympic Games – but in today’s interview, he added:’ Status now is that I will retire after the Olympics. But one should never say never.’ But he also said in the interview that he would swim until 2017, when the World Championships would take place in Germany – but the 2017 host is Budapest, Hungary.
Asked about current doping cases like Sun Yang (who got a three months doping suspension but is allowed to swim in Kazan) , Biedermann said:’ I know the story only from the media. I can say for myself that I’m checked twice a month.”
In Kazan, the 28-year old will have his first start on Monday on the 200 m Freestyle. Semifinals will be held on Monday evening and finals on Tuesday evening. Paul will celebrate his 29th birthday in Kazan on Friday 7 August. He and the German men also have a strong 4 X 200 m Freestyle relay – they are the current European Champions and want to get the direct qualification for the Olympic Games – with a ranking among the 12 best teams in Kazan.
I use to say that with Cielo’s 100 free record then Magnussen got oh so close. It will probably last some decades but never say never!
Now Lin’s 800 free WR, I can see that never going down.
i think he medals for sure…maybe wins…that would be great.
I think it will be faster, 1:43 mid. Biedermann is back in 2009 shape and without the high tech suit that swim was worth that. Biedermann now wants to win, something he’s lacked for a long time. I think sun will go for second in a 1:43 high and Stjepanovic get third in a 1:44 low. If the winners not sun they will need to take out the race fast as sun being a distance swimmer will close to fast. To win I see these splits
50 24.6
100 50.9(26.3)
150 1:17.6(26.7)
200 1:43.6(26.0)
Optimistic times, though I would like to see it happen, I don’t see it happening. Really a shame the last breakthrough swim in the 200 free free was Agnel and there hasn’t been anyone close to him since. More frustrating is that Agnel couldn’t get back to that form. What we see from the great swimmers (Phelps, Thorpe, Hackett) is that they consistently swam good every year (especially Phelps). Instead of just showing up once every few years.
Nothing against him from my part.
I just hate his world records and overall his week of Roma in 2009.
But he has proved he was still among the best 200 free swimmers since then.
And I’ve picked him for the win at worlds. 1.44 high.
Stjepanovic wins this 200free and surprises everyone like he did last year at Euro champs. Cant believe nobody has even mentioned his name
This field probably wont be as deep when Lochte won in it 2011 where 5 men were 1:44. I say maybe two men may break 1:45 in this final. Biedermann gets a lot of hate, but he is a proven textile swimmer. He’s gone 1:44 and 3:43 I believe. With Hagino out, I’m rooting for him to take the 200 free gold so maybe more people will get off his back.
1:44 and 3:44