Germany is sending a small team of 12 swimmers to Windsor, Canada, for the 2016 SC World Championships.
German head coach Henning Lambertz explained during the opening press conference for the German SC National Championships last Wednesday that the German Swimming Federation will focus in the future on long course and only Olympic events. He explained the absence of most of the German top swimmers at the German SC Nationals: “Some swimmers took a break after the Rio Olympic Games, some are thinking about their future swim career and some already focus on the next long course season and are in heavy training with long sets in the water.”
Only a few German swimmers who competed at the Rio Olympic Games were in Berlin like Marco Koch, Philip Heintz, Franziska Hentke and Christian Diener (Hentke and Diener didn’t swim their main events).
The men’s SC World Championship team is made up of 5 athletes featuring World Champion Marco Koch who set a new world record in the 200 m breaststroke at the German SC Nationals on Sunday and Philip Heintz who finished fourth overall at this year’s FINA World Cup. The team is complemented by Poul Zellmann, Florian Wellbrock and Marius Kusch who is a student athlete at the Queens University of Charlotte, USA.
The women’s roster features internationally widely unknown youngsters like Lisa Höpink (celebrated her 18th birthday last week), Celine Rieder (15), Maxine Wolters, 17, and four ladies for the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay: Annika Bruhn (24) ( who won the bronze medal at the 2015 LC World Championships with the German 4 x 100 m mixed relay), Marlene Hüther (18), Reva Foos (23) and 14-year old Isabel Marie Gose – one of Germany’s most promising female swimmers at the moment. Gose won her first German national title in the 400 m freestyle in a time of 4:04,89 – that is the 13th place in the actual FINA world ranking. Also 15-year old Celine Rieder showed a convincing performance in the 1500 m freestyle in 16:02,86 – that is the fastest time this season so far. Celine was faster than Katinka Hosszu at the 2016 Open International SC Austrian Championships last week. Celine Rieder also won the 800 m freestyle at the 2016 German SC Nationals in a time of 8:25,50 – the 12th fastest time in 2016.
Men’s World Championship Roster
Philip Heintz, Marco Koch, Marius Kusch, Florian Wellbrock, Poul Zellmann
Women’s World SC Championship Roster
Annika Bruhn, Marlene Hüther, Celine Rieder, Reva Foos, Isabel Marie Gose, Lisa Höpink, Maxine Wolters
