German Open: Urgent call to qualify for European Championships

German Open 2018

• April 20-22 20.
• Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark (SSE), Berlin
• Organizer: Berliner Turn- und Sportclub e.V., Abt. Schwimmen
• Meet central
• Live Timing
• Live Stream (not available yet)
• Start lists and results 

The German qualification period for the European LC Championships 2018 will expire on April, 29th. While a large DSV (German Swimming Federation) squad took part in the Swim Cup in Eindhoven last weekend, the Dutch national team is not traveling to Berlin for the German Open, as announced by Head Coach Henning Lambertz last week.

The German top swimmers  Marco Koch and Franziska Hentke have not been able to qualify so far for the 2018 European Championships. Both will take the chance to crack the nomination times at the German Open.

Some swimmers who have already broken the norms in individual races are not part of the line-up in Berlin, such as Philip Heintz, Florian Wellbrock, Leonie Beck, Sarah Köhler and Henning Mühlleitner. Pre-qualified swimmers Johannes Hintze, Laura Riedemann, Damian Wierling and Celine Rieder can be found in the start lists.

Also the battle for the relay spot will continue in Berlin for example Christian vom Lehn (breaststroke) and Jan-Philip Glania (backstroke) will try to be a part of the medley relay. The German Swimming Federation (DSV) lowered the standards for the relays. This step has motivated many athletes to fight for the relay spots because normally relay swimmers also get a chance to compete in an individual event. It is allowed for every European Nation to enter up to four athletes per individual event.