German World Championship Trials: Benjamin Starke Posts World Best; Christian Vom Lehn, Paul Biedermann, Britta Steffen, Helge Meeuw All Move Into Top Five

BERLIN, Germany, June 5. THE final day of long course meter swimming at the German World Championship Trials proved to be quite swift in the pool as nearly each finale produced a world-ranked time.

Benjamin Starke jumped to the top of the mountain in the world rankings with a 51.65 in the men's 100 fly. That effort beat the previous bellwether mark of 51.75 set by Michael Phelps in March. Takuro Fujii (51.84) and Joeri Verlinden (51.85) are the only other swimmers to clear 52 seconds so far this year. Steffen Deibler placed second tonight in 52.74, off his seventh-ranked season best of 52.32 from earlier in the meet. Philip Heintz grabbed third in 53.07.

Christian Vom Lehn dropped the hammer in the men's 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:08.97. That effort pushed him to second in the world rankings behind only Naoya Tomita's sterling time of 2:08.25 from April. Vom Lehn performed in open water as Tony Wiegmann touched a distant second in 2:14.67. Troy Arnicke finished third in 2:15.93.

Paul Biedermann scorched the men's 200 free with a triumphant time of 1:45.72. That clocking vaulted him into third in the world rankings behind only Sun Yang (1:44.99) and Yannick Agnel (1:45.47). Tim Wallburger finished second in 1:47.61 for 10th in the world, while Clemens Rapp placed third in 1:47.78 for 13th in the rankings. Starke clocked in with a fourth-place time of 1:47.91 for 18th in the rankings, while Dimitry Colupaev moved into the top 25 with a fifth-place 1:48.32.

Britta Steffen sprinted to fourth in the world rankings in the women's 50 free with a victorious 24.67. Only Ranomi Kromowidjojo (24.35), Marleen Veldhuis (24.54) and Aleksandra Herasimenia (24.57) have been faster this year. Dorothea Brandt took second in 24.78 to take sixth in the world behind Inge Dekker's 24.69, while Lisa Vitting completed the podium this evening in 25.58.

Helge Meeuw improved to fourth in the world rankings with a 53.47 in the men's 100 back. Camille Lacourt (52.44), Ryosuke Irie (53.10) and Liam Tancock (53.44) are the only swimmers faster than Meeuw this year. Marco Di Carli placed second in 54.43, while Jan-Philip Glania finished third in 55.10.

Christian Kubusch moved to seventh in the world rankings in the men's 800 free with a 7:55.43 for the win. Martin Grodzki touched second in 7:59.54, while Jan Wolfgarten earned third in 7:59.91 – both times among the top 15 in the world this year.

Jenny Mensing took 25th in the world rankings with a winning time of 1:00.78 in the women's 100 back. Lisa Graf (1:02.84) and Isabell Fischer (1:03.28) rounded out the top three.

Sina Sutter won the women's 100 fly in 59.01, while Theresa Michalak placed second in 59.73. Alexandra Wenk wound up third in 59.99. Caroline Ruhnau claimed the women's 200 breast in 2:27.60 touching out Sarah Poewe (2:27.61) by the slimmest of margins. Sibylle Dalacker snared third in 2:30.48.

Isabelle Harle captured the women's 400 free crown in 4:12.81, while Silke Lippok (4:14.09) and Franziska Jansen (4:14.96) finished second and third.

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