The 20-year-old from Magdeburg won in 1:45.44 minutes ahead of Austrian Felix Auböck and Danas Rapsys from Lithuania. The day before, Märtens had already been faster over twice the distance in 3:41.60 minutes than anyone before him this year and even since 2017.
“I can’t process it properly yet, I never expected such a jump,” said Märtens, according to a statement from the German Swimming Association: “Before this competition, I didn’t feel so good muscularly, but everything went well in the race Perfect.”
Open water Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock also won in the Swedish capital. The 24-year-old won the 1,500-meter freestyle in 14:53.66 minutes ahead of the Ukrainian Mikhailo Romanchuk.
On Saturday, Rafael Miroslaw broke the eleven-year-old German record over 100 meters freestyle in Berlin. The man from Hamburg struck after 47.92 seconds and thus clearly undercut the previous record of Marco di Carli from 2011 (48.24).
Source: dpa