Josha Salchow Drops To 48.02 100 Free At German Championships

2025 GERMAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, May 1st – Sunday, May 4th
• Berlin, Germany
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries/Results

On the whole, Germany has been swimming lights out as of late, with both the men’s and women’s sides putting up head-turning swims over the last month.

The barrage on records began with Olympic champion Lukas Märtens‘ other-worldly 400m free world record at the Swim Open Stockholm last month, with the 23-year-old’s teammates continuing the momentum at last week’s Berlin Swim Open and Gaether & Friends swim meets.

The siege continued here at the 2025 German Swimming Championships, as 23-year-old Sven Schwarz crushed a new European Record in the men’s 800m free.

Tonight in Berlin, Olympic finalist Schwarz unleashed a monster swim of 7:38.12 to obliterate his former personal best of 7:41.77 notched for gold at the inaugural U23 Championships.

His outing overtook Daniel Wiffen‘s former European Record of 7:38.19 logged last year in Paris when the Irishman won Olympic gold.

You can read more about Schwarz’s eye-popping performance here.

The men’s 100m breaststroke final tonight saw Lucas Matzerath accomplish his World Championships-qualifying mission.

The 24-year-old stopped the clock at a time of 59.19 to reap gold in the final, splitting 27.61/31.58 in the process.

That was enough to hold off Melvin Imoudu who was also sub-1:00 in 59.50. Jan Malte Gräfe rounded out the podium in 1:01.34.

As for Matzerath, his outing this evening was within striking distance of his own national record of 58.74 registered at the 2023 World Championships. It cleared the German Swimming Federation-mandated qualification time of 59.70 needed for Singapore.

Imoudu’s 59.50 also dipped under the qualification time, although the 26-year-old already made the grade with the 59.11 he logged for 4th place at last year’s Olympic Games.

Matzerath now ranks 5th in the world on the season.

Already having broken the German national record in the 200m breaststroke just days ago, Anna Elendt continued her spark with a super solid result in the 100m breast tonight.

The 23-year-old former University of Texas Longhorn stopped the clock at a mighty 1:05.72, beating her competitors by over 2 seconds.

Lena Ludwig was next to the wall in 1:08.03 followed by Hannah Schneider who touched in 1:09.33. Ludwig’s result did establish a new German Age Record, however.

As for Elendt, she opened in 31.11 and closed in 34.61 to put up the 3rd-fastest time of her career. Only her PB of 1:05.58 from 2022 and another outing of 1:05.62 from the 2022 World Championships rank higher.

She ranks #2 in the world this season behind British record holder Angharad Evans’ Trials time of 1:05.37 from last month.

The men’s 100m free brought the heat, with the top 4 swimmers delving under the 49-second barrier.

Top-seeded Josha Salchow followed up his rapid 48.09 morning effort with another time drop to arrive at 48.02 for the gold.

Salchow split 23.07/24.95 to register the 4th-best time of his career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 47.80, which rendered him the 6th-place finisher in the event at the 2024 Olympic Games.

Maintaining his 2nd-seed status but officially securing silver was 19-year-old Kaii Winkler of NC State. Luca Armbruster, the 100m fly gold medalist from last night, touched in 48.82 as the bronze medalist.

Of note, Märtens demonstrated remarkable range by hitting 48.88 as the 4th-place finisher, only .02 outside the Olympic champion’s lifetime best.

Winkler already punched a new German Age Record this morning with an AM swim of 48.41 and the teen produced an identical result this evening for silver.

Although that’s a personal triumph for the former U.S. swimmer, his outing fell short of the stiff German Swimming Federation-mandated qualifying time of 48.20 needed for Singapore.

For his effort, Salchow now ranks 7th in the world on the season.

Additional Notes

• The women’s 1500m free saw Olympic medalist Isabel Gose produce a gold medal-worthy result of 15:52.34. That easily defeated the field as the sole swimmer under the 16:00 barrier. Celine Rieder snagged silver in 16:20.19 while Marian Plöger bagged the bronze in 16:23.89. Gose was already qualified for the World Championships in this event, courtesy of the season-best 15:58.17 produced at the Swim Open Stockholm. Her lifetime best remains at the 15:41.16 established en route to bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games.
• Nina Holt topped the women’s 100m free podium in a speedy outing of 53.90. That represented the sole sub-54-second result of the field, as Nina Jazy reaped silver in 54.71 and Julianna Dora Bocska captured bronze in 54.87. Holt already ranks 13th in the world in this event as a result of the 53.81 put up just last week as the first-ever foray under the 54-second barrier. Of note, Bocska’s 54.87 represented a new German Age Record for 18-year-old females.

German World Championships qualifiers

* Qualified at these German Championships