{"id":618206,"date":"2025-07-27T04:37:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=618206"},"modified":"2025-07-27T15:15:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:15:48","slug":"world-championships-german-lukas-martens-wins-400-freestyle-battle-royal-with-australias-sam-short-and-koreas-woomin-kim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-german-lukas-martens-wins-400-freestyle-battle-royal-with-australias-sam-short-and-koreas-woomin-kim\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships: German Lukas Martens Wins 400 Freestyle Battle Royal with Australia’s Sam Short and Korea’s Woomin Kim"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships: German Lukas Martens Wins 400 Freestyle Battle Royal with Australia’s Sam Short and Korea’s Woomin Kim<\/strong><\/p>\n

German Olympic champion Lukas Martens<\/strong>\u00a0snatched a last gasp victory and his maiden world title to grab the 400-meter freestyle gold medal in the opening event of the opening session of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore tonight.<\/p>\n

Martens staged a stroke-for-stroke battle royal with Australia’s 2023 world champion Sam Short<\/strong> to take the title on the last stroke, clocking 3:42.35 (51.95; 1:48.34) to out-touch Short, who clocked 3:42.37 (52.46; 1:48.53; 2:45.43). Paris Olympic bronze medallist Woomin Kim<\/strong> (Korea) again took the bronze in 3:42.60 (52.77; 1:49.29; 2:46.43).<\/p>\n

It was 23-year-old Martens who took the race out, leading through the first 200m in 1:48.34, before the dogged Short, fourth in Paris, took over at the 250m turn and led until the pair headed for home, staging a thrillng finish.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of pressure,” Martens said. “As a world record holder, it was not easy to fight these guys. But I tried my best, I gave out everything, and I\u2019m really happy and proud to be a world champion. Now, Germany has a new world champion, and
\nthat\u2019s not usual I think. Really proud.”<\/p>\n

Short showed he meant business, winning the first of the two seeded heats in a sizzling 3:42.07 \u2013 sending a clear message to Martens and the rest of the contenders – including 2024 world champion Kim, who was second in the heat in 3:44.99, followed by Victor Johansson<\/strong> (SWE) 3:44.68; Zhanshuo Zhang<\/strong> (CHN) 3:44.82; Marco de Tullio<\/strong> (ITA) 3:44.92; Petar Mitsin<\/strong> (BUL) 3:45.28 and Oliver Klemet<\/strong> (GER) 3:46.86.<\/p>\n

Martens responded with his controlled second heat win in a time of 3:43.81 – setting up the battle between the 2024 Olympic champion and world record holder and the 2023 world champion – and the pair put on a perfect start to the 2025 Championships. Finally, a world championship gold went to Martens, who won silver behind Australia’s Elijah Winnington in 2022 and third to Short in 2022 and Kim in 2024.<\/p>\n

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JUST SHORT: Sam Short and Lukas Martens after the 400m freestyle, Martens out-touching his Aussie rival by 0.02secs. Photo Courtesy Delly Carr (Swimming Australia)<\/p><\/div>\n

Short admitted he thought he may have done enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was with Lukas at 100m to go, I knew it was going to be a dog fight. He\u2019s pretty good at everything so I knew I wasn\u2019t going to be pulling away and I was hurting as well. He got a good finish on me and I just wasn\u2019t quite good today,” said Short.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be back on the podium. It was a pleasure racing the Olympic champion, world record holder and world champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I knew he was going be a tough opponent. I\u2019m super pumped to come out here and I could hear the crowd from inside the tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of how hard I pushed myself and got the silver medal and to get back on the podium, it\u2019s a long meet to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m back on the podium, did a great heat this morning, backed it up. I was in Lane 4, high-pressure environment. Got back on the podium and it\u2019s just exciting for the rest of the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I put my head down in the last five metres and I thought I might have had it…I (actually) won my world championship two years ago by .tyhe same margin, 02s. Fine margins. Maybe if I were as tall as Lukas I would\u2019ve won, but I\u2019m\u2026.shorter.”<\/p>\n

Short dedicating his swim to his late aunty, who he revealed lost her 10-year-battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

“I just want to dedicate that performance there to my aunty, who just passed away a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

“It’s been really hard for my family recently. (But) however bad I was hurting there, [it was] nowhere near as bad as her battling cancer for 10 years. So I had to toughen up and get it done.”<\/p>\n

Kim said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a while since I did a (3min) 42-second record. If I train harder, I think I\u2019ll break my personal record soon. I\u2019m the defending champion, and I want to win Olympic gold, but today I just really wanted to be on the podium. It\u2019s my fourth time in the final. I want to be a swimmer who wins medals every time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried because my pace wasn\u2019t as good as in the morning, but I could feel my body and I was enjoying the atmosphere. I think my body got into the flow naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n