2023 BERLIN SWIM OPEN
- Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Results
In addition to Angelina Kohler‘s new national record in the women’s 100m fly (57.22) and Florian Wellbrock‘s mark in the 1500m free (14:34.89), Ole Braunschweig also hit a new German standard in the men’s 50m back.
Racing on day one of the Berlin Swim Open, a World Championships-qualifying competition, 25-year-old Braunschweig hit a new lifetime best of 24.57 to snag the 50m back gold.
Braunschweig beat out runners-up Jahn Cornelius and Vincent Passek as the only swimmer to delve under the 25-second threshold in the final. Cornelius produced 25.09 for silver while 17-year-old Passek posted a mark of 25.21 for bronze.
Of note, Passek’s time checked in as a new German Junior Record.
As for Braunschweig, his time shaved .01 0ff of his own previous record of 24.58 logged in the heats at last year’s World Championships.
Other races on night one included the men’s 200m free which saw 22-year-old Rafael Miroslaw scorch the field with a gold-medal-worthy result of 1:45.83.
Opening in 51.08 and closing in 54.75, Miroslaw produced the 3rd fastest time of his career. He’s been as quick as 1:46.04 at this same meet last year.
Miroslaw is the first German swimmer ever to delve under the 48-second barrier in the men’s 100m freestyle, owning the record at 47.92 from last year, so we’ll see what he produces in that event later on. In the meantime, Miroslaw’s 2free time qualifies him for Fukuoka this summer.
He now ranks 9th in the world in the 200m free this season.
| 2 | Matthew Richards |
GBR | 1:44.83 | 04/09 |
| 3 | Thomas Dean |
GBR | 1:44.93 | 04/09 |
| 4 | Katsuhiro Matsumoto |
JPN | 1:44.98 | 04/05 |
| 5 | Danas Rapsys |
LTU | 1:45.69 | 04/14 |
| 6 | Lee Ho-Joon |
KOR | 1:45.70 | 03/29 |
| 7 | Lukas Martens |
GER | 1:45.79 | 04/02 |
| 8 | Drew Kibler |
USA | 1:45.82 | 03/24 |
| 9 | Rafael Miroslav |
GER | 1:45.83 | 04/21 |
| 10 | James Guy |
GBR | 1:45.85 | 04/09 |
Additional Winners
- The women’s 100m breast saw visiting Finnish swimmer Ida Hulkko get to the wall first in 1:08.49. The fastest German swimmer was represented by runner-up Bente Fischer in 1:09.70.
- Lucas Matzerath got the job done for 100m breast gold, hitting a sub-minute result in the process. Matzerath touched in 59.54, getting under the 59.74 World Championships QT. He now ranks 11th in the world on the season.
- The men’s 100m fly saw Eric Friese clock 51.73 for the victory over Marius Kusch who settled for silver in 52.14.
- Laura Riedemann touched first in the women’s 50m back in 28.59.
- The women’s and men’s 400m IM were won by Zoe Vogelman and Marius Toscan, respectively. Zogelman touched in 4:45.59 while Toscan posted 4:22.12. Both were outside the World Aquatics ‘A’ standards, however.
- Isabel Gose earned the women’s 200m free in a tie of 1:56.81, easily clearing the A cut of 1:58.66 needed for Fukuoka. She represented just one of two sub-2:00 swimmers in the final, joined by runner-up Leonie Kullman who produced 1:59.23. Gose now ranks 12th in the world.
