{"id":611168,"date":"2025-05-01T12:34:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T19:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=611168"},"modified":"2025-05-02T01:30:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T08:30:22","slug":"lukas-martens-follows-up-400-free-wr-with-another-journey-to-340-at-german-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/lukas-martens-follows-up-400-free-wr-with-another-journey-to-340-at-german-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Lukas M\u00e4rtens Follows Up 400 Free WR With 3:40 Victory At German Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lukas M\u00e4rtens Follows Up 400 Free WR With 3:40 Victory At German Championships<\/h4>\n

Lukas M\u00e4rtens\u00a0<\/b>posted the third-fastest 400 free of his career as he followed up his WR with victory in 3:40.61 at the German Championships<\/strong> in Berlin.<\/p>\n

The Olympic champion took down Paul Biedermann’s<\/strong> supersuited world record last month in Stockholm<\/a> when he stopped the clock in 3:39.96, a standard that had stood since the 2009 World Championships in Rome.<\/p>\n

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Lukas M\u00e4rtens: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

On Thursday he went 3:46.16 in prelims, one of two men inside 3:47 with Sven Schwarz<\/strong> posting 3:46.71. M\u00e4rtens returned in the evening and had closed to within 0.56 of his WR at the 350m mark with his final 50 of 27.66secs 0.09 slower than that in the Swedish capital as he touched first in 3:40.61.<\/p>\n

That was his third-swiftest, bettered only by his world record and 3:40.33 from last year’s German Championships.<\/strong>\u00a0He now owns eight of the top 10 times in German history joined by Biedermann and his former global standard of 3:40.07 and Oliver Klemet<\/strong> with his 3:42.81 PB from 2024.<\/p>\n

The M\u00e4rtens effect is there to see following his WR.\u00a0“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a full hall in Germany,” he said through the German federation, dsv.de. “Maybe last year also had a little effect. Two races like this within three weeks, you have to manage that first, so I’m very satisfied,”<\/p>\n

Schwarz didn’t appear for the final and it was Klemet who took silver in 3:43.43, 0.03 slower than his 3:43.40 in the world record race in Stockholm, coming just days after he won the men’s 3km knockout sprints<\/a> at the World Aquatics Open Water Cup<\/strong>. Florian Wellbrock<\/strong> was third home in 3:46.44.<\/p>\n

The meet is another opportunity for athletes to qualify for the World Championships<\/strong> in Singapore with German policy dictating they could book a spot on the team at any World Aquatics-approved competition from 7 April to 4 May.<\/p>\n

Isabel Gose<\/strong> was fifth in the women’s 400 free at Paris 2024, months after bronze at the World Championships in Doha. She led from the start with Maya Werner<\/strong> for company in the first half of the race before Gose pulled away to claim victory in 4:03.65, 1.51secs off her national record of 4:02.14 set at La Defense Arena last year. Werner went 4:06.04 to cement her spot as the second fastest woman in Germany over eight lengths before the qualification window shuts. Lea Boy<\/strong>, better known for her open water prowess and winner of the women’s 3k sprints in Ibiza last weekend, was third in 4:10.49.<\/p>\n

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Luca Nik Arnbruster: Photo Courtesy: Jo Kleindl<\/p><\/div>\n

Luca Nik Armbruster<\/strong> was just 0.02 shy of the German 100 fly record as he went inside the cut in 51.21. It was a PB for Armbruster who rose to second in the all-time German rankings, his time topped only by Steffen Deibler’s<\/strong> 51.19 from 2013. Josha Salchow<\/strong> was also inside the QT in 51.28 with Simon Bucher<\/strong> of Austria the third man home in 51.77.<\/p>\n

Angelina K\u00f6hler<\/strong> went 56.60 in the women’s 100 fly prelims before taking the title in 56.61. The 24-year-old is the reigning world champion and set the German record of 56.11 in the semis in Doha last year. Yara Fay Riefstahl<\/strong> (59.57) and Alina Baievych<\/strong> (1:01.16) joined K\u00f6hler on the podium.<\/p>\n

Cedric B\u00fcssing<\/strong> booked a ticket to Singapore in the men’s 400IM where he stopped the clock in 4:13.56 while Noelle Benkler<\/strong> won the women’s in 4:44.02.<\/p>\n

“I have the feeling that I can swim better under pressure anyway,” said Olympic finalist B\u00fcssing. “The race now has felt much harder than it should be. But I think in a post-Olympic season that’s okay.”<\/p>\n

Cornelius Jahn<\/strong> came from 0.14 down at the turn to overhaul Ole Braunschweig<\/strong> and claim the men’s 100 back title in 54.30 to 54.67.\u00a0Lise Seidel<\/strong> won the women’s 100 back in 1:00.93. Neither the men’s nor women’s winners were inside the cut.<\/p>\n