Wellbrock Carries Märtens’ World Record Into 1500 Free Victory In Stockholm

2025 SWIM OPEN STOCKHOLM

• Saturday, April 12th – Tuesday, April 15th
• Stockholm, Sweden
• LCM (50m)
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Entries/Live Results

After a feisty day one at the 2025 Swim Open Stockholm, the swims remained super speedy as action unfolded this evening for a second day.

Germany’s Lukas Märtens followed up his monster 400m free World Record-setting swim with a victory in the 200m free to continue his momentum.

23-year-old Märtens stopped the clock at a time of 1:45.55 to beat the field by over a second.

Splitting 24.85/27.10 (51.95)/27.24/26.36, the German kept American Kieran Smith at arm’s length, with Smith settling for silver in 1:46.89.

Fellow German Timo Sorgius rounded out the podium in 1:47.52.

Märtens’ time this evening represents the 10th-best performance of his prolific career, one which boasts a lifetime best of 1:44.14 from last year. His outing here ranks him 3rd in the world this season.

Another German made some noise this evening as Olympic finalist Angelina Kohler tore up the women’s 100m fly field with a winning time of 56.93.

Opening in 26.31 and closing in 30.62, Kohler easily cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 58.33 needed for Singapore.

Belgian national record holder Roos Vanotterdijk scored silver in 57.04 (27.14/29.91) and host nation athlete Louise Hansson wrangled up bronze in 57.35.

Vanotterdijk’s performance checks in as a new Belgian national standard, overwriting the 57.25 logged at last year’s Olympic Games.

For their efforts, Kohler inserts herself into the world rankings at slot #2 on the season, while Vanotterdijk is now the 4th-quickest on the globe.

Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock put on a show in the men’s 1500m free, producing a head-turning result of 14:38.27 to top the podium.

27-year-old Wellbrock, an accomplished athlete both in the pool and open water, led his teammates Oliver Klemet and Sven Schwarz who made it a German sweep of the podium.

Klemet stopped the clock at 14:43.01 and Schwarz registered 14:52.62 behind Wellbrock. Whether by accident or by design, Wellbrock helped Klemet achieve a monster personal best, reaching just his 2nd outing ever under the 14:50 barrier.

The German trio wreaked havoc on the season’s world rankings after tonight’s final. Wellbrock represents the #1 performer in the world and Klemet is right behind as the 2nd-best performer. Schwarz is now the 5th-best athlete on the planet.

Dutch Olympian Nyls Korstanje made his presence known big-time in the men’s 100m butterfly, turning in an eye-popping performance of 50.97.

Splitting 23.66/27.31, 26-year-old Korstanje handily defeated the field.

Adrian Jaskiewicz of Poland snagged the silver in 52.18 and Estonia’s Alex Ahtiainen garnered bronze in 52.30.

Former NC State standout Korstanje’s time this evening represents a new season-best and as well as the 6th-speediest outing of his young career.

Finally, the men’s 50m back saw Polish speedster Ksawery Masiuk earn the gold, posting an effort of 24.71 as the sole sub-25-second swimmer of the field.

The 20-year-old was slightly quicker at last month’s Polish Grand Prix where he captured a mark of 24.60 to rank #3 in the world this season.

Additional Notes

• Germany’s Lucas Matzerath clocked a time of 1:00.35 to take the men’s 100m breaststroke, beating Polish athletes Jan Kalusowski and Dawid Wiekiera. The former earned silver in 1:00.59 and the latter garnered bronze in 1:00.66.
• Iona Anderson of Australia logged a mark of 59.81 to top the women’s 100m backstroke podium. 19-year-old Anderson produced a result of 59.81 to establish a new meet record, holding off Belgian national record holder Vanotterdijk who notched 59.95 for silver. Dutch maestro Maaike de Waard captured bronze in 1:00.90.
• Lithuanian national record holder and Olympic gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte put up a time of 30.28 to take the women’s 50m breaststroke. That now ranks her #1 in the world, dethroning Estonian Eneli Jefimova who had led the world with her mark of 30.23 from February.