2023 GERMAN NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 6-9, 2023
- Berlin, Germany
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
- Day 1 Recap
- Live Results
Day two of the 2023 German Championships brought the heat as several of the nation’s World Championships squad in the water for final preparations before Fukuoka.
Among them was 23-year-old Lucas Matzerath who posted the top time in the men’s 100m breaststroke to grab the gold.
Matzerath of SG Frankfurt stopped the clock in a time of 59.12, the 2nd-swiftest mark of his career. He opened in 27.69 and brought it home in 31.43 to fall just .03 outside of his PB of 59.09 logged at the AP Race International Meet in May.
Matzerath said of his performance, “My goal is to join the 58 club and I hope to get as far as possible with that.
“The focus this season is on the World Championships and that’s already been a very good sign. I think there will definitely be some good in Fukuoka.”
Behind Matzerath this evening was Melvin Imoudu who also cleared the minute barrier in 59.17 for silver. For 24-year-old Imoudu, his result represented his first-ever foray into the 59-second territory, crushing his previous lifetime best of 1:00.16 from 2 years ago.
Both men are putting Fabian Schwingenshlogl‘s national record of 58.95 on notice.
Imoudu said post-race, “This leap in performance was long overdue, I’ve eyed the one-minute mark for a long time. I’m mega happy. Once you’ve broken the barrier, it’s all liberating. Now it’s time to keep at it, the Olympics is now the goal.”
Yesterday Isabel Gose dropped 8 seconds to take the women’s 1500m freestyle and the Magdeburg native was back at it tonight.
The 21-year-old European champion topped the women’s 400m free podium, earning gold in a time of 4:04.23. That’s within range of her season-best of 4:03.84, the time she registered at April’s Berlin Swim Open to currently rank 8th in the world entering Fukuoka.
The men’s 100m backstroke saw its top three finishers all touch within .13 of one another, as Ole Braunschweig, Marek Ulrich and Lukas Martens roared to the wall nearly at the same time.
It was World Championships-bound Braunschweig who hit the time pad first, clocking 55.03. Ulrich was a fingernail behind in 55.12 while Martens was next in 55.16.
Braunschweig owns a lifetime best of 53.47 in this event from April and will need to be well under that result in order to vie for a medal in Fukuoka. Right now, the top time in the world sits at the 52.26 Xu Jiayu of China put up at his national championships; however, the top 12-ranked athletes at the moment are all well under the 53-second barrier.
Additional Winners
- Anna Elendt of SG Frankfurt logged a solid result of 1:06.93 to win the event decisively, getting to the wall well over a second over Ida Hulkko. Hulkko of Finland secured silver in a time of 1:08.49. Elendt of the University of Texas took silver in this event last year in Budapest, earning a time of 1:05.98.
- The women’s 100m backstroke saw Laura Riedemann top the podium in 1:01.34, well off her PB of 59.82 from the 2019 World Championships.
- 21-year-old Sven Schwarz bested the men’s 800m free field, producing an outing of 7:47.55 for the gold. The European Championships (SC) multi-medalist is headed to Dublin for the inaugural U23 Championships later this year.
