2023 BERLIN SWIM OPEN
- Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Day 1 Recap
- Results
While competing on day two of the 2023 Berlin Swim Open, 21-year-old Lukas Martens put up the best time of his career en route to winning the men’s 800m freestyle.
Hitting the wall in a time of 7:42.14, Martens beat out last night’s 1500m freestyle champion and Olympic gold medalist Florian Wellbrock. Wellbrock settled for silver in 7:42.99 while Sven Schwarz bagged bronze in 7:43.43.
The top 3 finishers all easily cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard if 7:53.11 needed for this summer’s World Championships.
As for Martens, his 7:42.14 this evening laid waste to his previous career-quickest time of 7:58.62 which was the opening 800m of his 1500m free at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Martens now takes over the top spot in the worldwide rankings for this season, beating out Russian Aleksandr Stepanov’s previous world-leading 7:42.47 from earlier this week. Martens is the 16th fastest man ever in this event.
| 2 | Aleksandr Stepanov |
RUS | 7:42.47 | 04/18 |
| 3 | Samuel Short |
AUS | 7:42.96 | 04/19 |
| 4 | Florian Wellbrock |
GER | 7:42.99 | 04/22 |
| 5 | Sven Schwarz |
GER | 7:43.43 | 04/22 |
David Thomasberger got it done for 200m fly gold this evening, punching a time of 1:56.60. That gave him a healthy advantage over the next-closest swimmer Ramon Klenz who settled for silver in 1:58.29.
Thomasberger owns the national record in this event with the 1:55.04 he produced in 2021. He was a ways off that mark here, however, he did dip under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 1:56.71 needed for Fukuoka.
Following up on his 50m back natal record from day one, Ole Braunschweig struck gold in the men’s 100m back in a time of 53.81.
Splitting 25.63/28.28, Braunschweig dipped under the ‘A’ cut of 54.03 needed for Fukuoka, producing the 2nd fastest time of his career in the process.
Additional Winners
- Alina Baievych posted a time of 2:11.05 to clinch a new German Junior Record en route to the women’s 200m fly gold.
- Poland’s Adela Piskorska reaped gold in the women’s 100m back, posting a time of 1:00.16 for her best-ever.
- The men’s 50m breast saw Melvin Imouda hit 27.12 for Fukuoka qualification, while runner-up Lucas Matzerath also hit the Fukuoka time in 27.27.
- Last night’s 200m free champion Rafael Miroslaw fell just short of World Championships qualification in the 100m free tonight. The 22-year-old touched in 48.52 while the standard rests at 48.51.
- Isabel Gose reaped gold in the women’s 800m free in 8:19.65 for Fukuoka qualification.
