Day 1 Berlin: Gose, Bruhn, Märtens, Matzerath cracked German Olympic standards

2021 GERMAN OLYMPIC TRIALS – BERLIN

• Friday, April 16th – Sunday, April 18th
• Friday/Saturday: Prelims at 10am local/Finals at 7pm local; Sunday: Prelims at 9:30am local/Finals at 4pm local
• Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark, Berlin
• German Olympic Selection Policy
• Long course meters (LCM)
• Start lists
• Live results
• Preview

Lukas Märtens, Isabel Gose, Annika Bruhn were the first swimmers to achieve a German Olympic standard time this week at the pinnacle German Olympic qualifying event in Berlin.

Lukas Märtens ducked under the 200 m freestyle German Olympic standard time of 1:46.70 with his winning time of 1:46.41.

In the women’s final, Isabel Gose won in a new German age group record for 19-year-olds in 1:56.93. The record was previously held by Franziska van Almsick with a time of 1:58.14. Van Alsmisk earned a silver medal with her performance at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Annika Bruhn was also able to break the Olympic standard in 1:57.17.

Lucas Matzerath had already reached the German standard time for the Olympic Games in the 100 m breaststroke prelims in 59.63. This time was 0,17 seconds faster than the required standard. He added more speed in the final and finished second in 59.42. Matzerath put his name on the German Olympic consideration list now next to Fabian Schwingenschlögl who cracked the Olympic standard and the German record two weeks ago.

It counted on the first day in Berlin not only for the German swimmers to qualify for an individual start, they also aimed for spots in the relays.

Lukas Märtens (1:46.41), Jacob Heidtmann (1:46.98), Poul Zellmann (1:47.53) and Henning Mühlleitner (1:48.11) could recommend themselves for the 4×200 m freestyle relay. The women’s Fab4 were Isabel Gose (1:56.93), Annika Bruhn (1:57.17), Leonie Kullmann (1:57.64) and Marie Pietruschka in 1:58.46.

Other 100m distances were swum, where swimmers could offer themselves for the relays: Anna Elendt won the women’s 100 breaststroke in a new personal best of 1:07.17, just 0.17 seconds off the Olympic standard. In the 100m butterfly, Lisa Höpink fared similarly, being the fastest finalist in 58.07. She thus did not reach the German standard time of 57.90, but she can hope for a place in the relay. In the men’s 100 m backstroke Marek Ulrich swam the fastest time in the morning in 53.75, a bit too slow for an individual start in Tokyo, but it was Ole Braunscheig who snatched the win in the final.  The German nomination guidelines state that relay swimmers selection is based on performances they achieved in a final.

Current German Olympic Roster (Tokyo 2020)

• Sarah Koehler – 800 / 1500 freestyle
• Florian Wellbrock – 800 / 1500 freestyle
• Marco Koch – 200 breaststroke
• Laura Riedemann – 100 backstroke
• Franziska Hentke – 200 butterfly
• Marius Kusch – 100 butterfly
• Philip Heintz – 200 IM

German swimmers having achieved national Olympic qualifying times

• David Thomasberger – 200 butterfly
• Fabian Schwingenschlögl – 100 breast
• Leonie Kullmann – 400 freestyle
• Isabel Gose – 200, 400, 800 freestyle
• Florian Wellbrock – 400 freestyle
• Lukas Märtens – 200, 400, 1500 freestyle
• Henning Mühlleitner – 400 freestyle
• Celine Rieder – 1500 freestyle
• Lucas Matzerath – 100 breaststroke
• Annika Bruhn – 200 freestyle

Swimmers who have earned consideration for relay swims

• Marie Pietruschka – 4×200 freestyle
• Leonie Kullmann –  4×200 freestyle
• Jacob Heidtmann – 4×200 freestyle
• Poul Zellmann – 4×200 freestyle
• Henning Mühlleitner – 4×200 freestyle
• Lisa Höpink – 4×100 medley (butterfly)
• Anna Elendt –  4×100 medley (breaststroke)
• Ole Braunschweig –  4×100 medley (backstroke)

As a refresher, the Olympic standards, German records, and already qualified swimmers in each Olympic event are as follows: