128. DEUTSCHE MEISTERSCHAFTEN, BERLIN – GERMAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OLYMPIC TRIALS (PART 1), BERLIN
- Thursday, May 5 – Sunday, May 8, 2016
- Prelims: 9 am local, Finals: 5 pm local, on Sunday: 4 pm local
- Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europa-Sportpark (SSE)
- Eventpage
- Schedule
- Start lists
- Results
Short reminder of German Olympic qualification procedure: The 2016 German National Championships are the first part of a two-step nomination procedure for the Olympic Games. The athletes had to swim defined times at National Championships in prelims and in finals. All swimmers who achieve the times will be part of the so-called “long list” and must inform German Head Coach Henning Lambertz in the period of one week after German Nationals in which meet they want to confirm the required performance of the nomination process: at one of the three meets of the Mare Nostrum tour or the German Open. They can only choose ONE of these four possibilities. For this meet, other times are set which are approximately 1,5 % slower than those at German nationals. All swimmers who reach the times and have also finished first or second at the German National Championships will qualify for Rio.
What a morning in the “Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europa-Sportpark (SSE)” in Berlin! Two German National Records were set by Alexandra Wenk in the 100 m butterfly in 57,76 and Damian Wierling in the the 50 m freestyle in 21,81. Wenk broke her own record by 0,01 of a second. 20-year old Damian Wierling won the 100 m freestyle final yesterday in a new personal best time of 48,54 and he continued his great perfomance today: The previous German record was set by Rafed El-Masri with a time of 21,86 in 2008. Wierling, who trains in Essen with coach Nicole Endruschat, is one of the most promising swimmers in Germany at the moment. In 2015, he had to take a break from swimming for several months because of a pericaditis but he is fully recovered. Wierling also is fast in the 200 m freestyle but he removed the 200 m from the competition schedule for Nationals to concentrate on the 50 m because he had a training deficit due to his illness. Damian trains in Essen with Hendrik Feldwehr, Christian vom Lehn and Dorothea Brandt. With his prelims time of 21,81, he now ranked 7th in the world ranking. Björn Hornikel is the second finalist tonight in the 50 m free who was under prelims standard in prelims.
For Alexandra Wenk it is the second German record she improved during this 2016 German Championships: She broke Germany’s national 200 IM record for the second time in a day Saturday night, going 2:11.33 in finals. In prelims, Wenk was 2:11.41, sneaking under the oldest long course record left on Germany’s record books. The previous mark was a 2:11.73 set by Ute Geweniger back in 1981. Then, in the final, Wenk managed to cut another eight one-hundredths of a second, going 2:11.33 to lower the record for the second time in 24 hours.
Franziska Hentke and Aliena Schmidtke also finished under the prelims nomination standard in the 100 m butterfly. Hentke already is on the German “Rio long list” in the 400 IM and 200 m butterfly – she now sits second in the world ranking in the 200 m fly. On the men’s side, Philip Heintz showed a convincing performance in the 100 m butterfly, he posted a 51,84, the 12th fastest time in the world in 2016. Also Dorothea Brandt made a clear statement with her time of 24,83 in the morning’s prelims – she is ready for her second Olympic Games and her time already was under the finals cut.
It looks like the men’s 200 m freestyle will be a thrilling final tonight with 5 qualifiers under the prelims standard time and all were also close to the required time for the final. Christoph Fildebrandt, Clemens Rapp, Florian Vogel and Jacob Heidtmann will challenge world wecord holder Paul Biedermann.
In the 200 m breaststroke, only Christian vom Lehn made it under the prelims cut. World Champion Marco Koch clocked a 2:12,51 – this is slower than prelims nomination standard but he only had to finish first or second in the final tonight at this championships because he won the gold medal in this event in Kazan.
