Rupprath Breaks His Own European Mark, Mensing Sets Personal Best in Winning 200 Backstroke

CORRECTION

ESSEN, Germany, November 28. THOMAS Rupprath broke his own European mark in the 50 backstroke sprint at 23.42 seconds (old mark 23.75) on Day Two of the 2004 German Short Course Swimming Championships in Essen, Germany.

Interestingly, while Rupprath’s swim surpassed the listed LEN mark, it was slower than his 23.23 listed as the German national record from 2002. His German record actually surpasses the 23.31 world record of Australia’s Matt Welsh but was not recognized as either a world or LEN record, even though it was accepted as the German mark because there was not adequate drug testing at the 2002 German nationals.

Rupprath added a quick 23.00 win in the 50 fly as well (his German record -22.95).

One of the more encouraging swims for the German program came from Jenny Mensing who won the 200 back for the ladies at 2:08.56. Her fine swim was initially incorrectly reported as a national record, but closer examination has shown the actual German mark is also the LEN mark set by Antje Buschschulte in winning the 2003 European title at 2:04.23.

Initial reports also had German veterans Buschschulte and Hannah Stockbauer not participating in next month’s European Short Course Championships. But at least as to Buschschulte, SwimInfo has received a direct communication stating otherwise. In Antje’s own words:

Hello Swiminfo!
That Jenny Mensing swam German record 200 back is a wrong information, because the record is 2:04,23 and ER too. I swam this time in Dublin 03.

That I do not swim European Shortcourse in Wien is also wrong. Our federation asked me if I wanted to swim and I finally said yes. I do not have a perfect preparation due to my more intense Neuroscience studies this winter, but I want to support the German team and nevertheless I am defending European champion.

Kind regards,
Antje Buschschulte

Sarah Poewe flew over from the Georgia Bulldog campus to win the 100 breaststroke 1:07.18. Other top swims through two days included: Teresa Rohmann, 400 IM, 4:36.41; Jana Henke, 1500 free, 16:29.25.

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