Magdeburg German Olympic Qualifying Event
- April 10-11, 2021
- Magdeburg, Germany
- Long Course Meters (LCM)
- Meet Page
- Live Stream
- Live Results
April 11th was the final day of racing in Magdeburg. This was one of three meets this weekend where German swimmers were able to aim for their Olympic qualifying cuts, including the competitions in Eindhoven and Stockholm.
18-year-old Isabel Gose claimed victory in the 800 free, undercutting the German Olympic qualifying time, 8:30.00, and her previous best time substantially with a time of 8:26.37. Going into this meet, her lifetime best was set at 8:37.79, but during an interview she said that she had gotten under the qualifying cut in training already.
This was a longer event for Gose who normally specializes in the 200 and 400 free. She described changing her stroke technique, her “sling arm,” with her coach and focusing more on training for the 800.
The 800 free was a surprisingly tight race between Gose, Celine Rieder, and Sarah Köhler who were within half a second of each other during the first 200 meters. At the halfway point, Rieder fell back, about 2 seconds behind Gose and Köhler.
Leonie Märtens and Marlene Sandberg made their move at the 500-meter mark, pushing past Rieder as Köhler stayed on Gose’s toes, about one-third of a second behind her. Köhler was the only other swimmer to undercut the Olympic qualifying time, touching the wall 2nd with a time of 8:28.56. She is already nominated to the Olympic team in this event, alongside the 1500 free, which means there is only one Olympic spot left on Germany’s roster in this event. Märtens finished 3rd with a time of 8:48.94.
Rieder, who has already cracked the Olympic qualifying time in the 1500 free, finished the race in 5th place (9:10.81).
Gose’s time ranks her 8th in the world this season:
2020-2021 LCM Women 800 Free
Ledecky
8:12.57
| 2 | Ariarne Titmus | AUS | 8:13.83 | 07/31 |
| 3 | Katie Grimes | USA | 8:17.05 | 07/29 |
| 4 | Simona Quadarella | ITA | 8:17.32 | 07/29 |
| 5 | Sarah Koehler | GER | 8:17.33 | 07/29 |
| 6 | Anastasia KIRPICHNIKOVA | RUS | 8:18.77 | 07/29 |
| 7 | Kiah Melverton | AUS | 8:19.05 | 06/17 |
| 8 | Wang Jianjiahe | CHN | 8:19.10 | 07/26 |
| 9 | Haley Anderson | USA | 8:20.51 | 06/19 |
| 10 | Isabel Gose | GER | 8:21.79 | 07/29 |
2019 World Champion Florian Wellbrock won the 1500 free with the 2nd fastest time in the world this season: 14:46.03. 19-year-old Lukas Märtens kept pace with him up until the last 200 meters where Wellbrock increased his half-a-second lead to more than 3 seconds. Märtens clocked a time of 14:49.26, the 3rd fastest time in the world this season.
The two finished more than a minute ahead of the rest of the field.
These results mirror the 400 freestyle from Saturday where Wellbrock and Martens finished 1-2 and they both cracked the Olympic qualifying time.
2020-2021 LCM Men 1500 Free
Wellbrock
14:36.45
| 2 | Bobby Finke | USA | 14:39.65 | 08/01 |
| 3 | Mykhailo Romanchuk | UKR | 14:39.89 | 05/19 |
| 4 | Gregorio Paltrinieri | ITA | 14:40.38 | 04/03 |
| 5 | Lukas Märtens | GER | 14:49.26 | 04/11 |
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
- Jacob Heidtmannn – 400 IM
Swimmers Under Germany’s Olympic Cut
- David Thomasberger – 200 butterfly
- Fabian Schwingenschlögl – 100 breast
- Leonie Kullmann – 400 freestyle
- Isabel Gose 400 free, 800 free
- Florian Wellbrock 400 free
- Lukas Märtens 400 free, 1500 free
- Henning Mühlleitner 400 free
- Celine Rieder 1500 free
German distance freestyle is going from strength to strength. I think you could realistically argue they’re at least as strong as Italy now.
Hopefully you are wrong about Turkey. I fear that unlike in athletics (anyone remembers the women’s 1500 m final at the 2012 olympics …?) they will get away with it in swimming.
Edit: If you read this:
1) What happened to Timothy Shuttleworth after 2016?
2) Any thoughts on the british swimmers who will qualify individually for Tokyo?
Shuttleworth had a crack at OW and won World bronze in the 5k in 2017. Raced his last 1500 the same year. Focus switched to shorter distances after that, showed some ability (50.2s 100free, 2.00 200IM), but focus doesnt really seem to be on swimming professionally since he left Luff. Still involved in swimming in other ways last I heard (clinics etc).
Will be interesting to sum it up after Tokyo. France is also really strong.
They are clearly behind Germany on the men’s side and on the women’s side they are pretty much non-existant. Australia for example is much better.
France look good OW. Turkey will be next to join the party imo.
I think you could argue it, but I think Italy is still deeper than Germany at this point. The German top-end is starting to cycle back up, though.
On the women’s side:
Quadarella is better than Köhler, but i think Gose will do better than the 2nd best italian in the 400/800 free. Germany also has Rieder (16:09 1500 free), Kullmann (4:07 400 free) and Beck (who should be able to swim at least sub 4:08, 8:30, 16:10 if she would try). Overall i would favor Germany, but Quadarella is better at the world stage than all german women.
In terms of medals: Both nations could win 2 medals in distance freestyle, but Quadarella should do better than Köhler.
In terms of finals: I think Quadarella will make two finals and Caramignoli will make the 1500 free final, so 3 finals in total. Köhler should… Read more »