Freestyle swimmer Lukas Märtens set a world best time of the year over 200 meters at the Swim Open in Stockholm.
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, my muscles didn’t feel all that good, but then everything went perfectly in the race.”
Open water Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock also won in the Swedish capital. The 24-year-old won the 1500-meter freestyle in 14:53.66 minutes ahead of the Ukrainian Mikhailo Romanchuk.
On Saturday, Rafael Miroslav 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).