German swimmer Philip Heintz, fresh off becoming the 2nd German to hit a qualifying standard to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games last weekend, has re-injured his hip. Heintz missed a medal at last summer’s World Championships in the 200 IM by less than a tenth of a second.
While training on Tuesday evening, Heintz says that he felt pain in his hip similar to what he felt at last summer’s World Championships, where the injury forced him out of the 400 IM final. After going to the doctor, the diagnosis is another hip injury, though Heintz says that it’s not as severe as the one he had last summer.
“I’m forced to take a break,” Heintz posted on his Instagram account. “I don’t know how long it will take. Hopefully not longer (than) 2 weeks, otherwise my belly will return,” he joked.
The 28-year old native of Mannheim is the German Record holder in the 200 IM in both long course meters (1:55.76) and short course meters (1:51.92), which were done in 2017 and 2016, respectively. His time in long course ranks him as the 11th-fastest swimmer in the history of that event, and his time in short course ranks him as 13th-fastest.
Heintz’s biggest international medal is a World Championship silver in short course meters from 2016. He also has 2 European Championship silver medals in the 200 IM in long course (2014, 2018) and 2 European Championship golds in short course (2013, 2017) in the same event.
While he hasn’t progressed in his specialty event since 2017, he has made headway in other races. That includes an April swim of 4:14.27 in the 400 IM in long course last year, and a 1:03.01 best time in the 100 breaststroke in long course that month as well.
Before withdrawing from the meet, he finished 4th last year in the 200 IM at the World Championships and was the 8th qualifier into finals of the 400 IM.
The silver lining for the injury is that Olympic qualification. He swam a 1:58.92 at the Euro Meet to win gold that undercuts the German-set Olympic standard of 1:59.40 and the official Olympic “A” time (OQT) of 1:59.67. While he is the 2nd German to hit a qualifying standard, he is the first in the pool to guarantee his spot in Tokyo. A clause in the qualifying criteria says that if a swimmer finished in the top 4 at last year’s World Championships automatically qualify to Tokyo if they hit the Olympic “A” time (OQT) after January 1.
Marco Koch hit the German-set Olympic time via a 2:09.81 at the FINA Champions Series, but that swim is not protected via top 4 finish. In theory, if 2 other Germans were faster before the May 3rd qualifying deadline, he could be bumped. At present that’s unlikely, given that the 3rd-fastest German in 2019 was just 2:12.84, but it is possible. Conversely, Heintz’s swim is protected from being bumped, meaning that he doesn’t have to worry about any further qualifying events and can focus on recovery and training.
That’s not good. Get well soon and stay positive!