The German swimmers started the pool competitions at the World Championships in Fukuoka with two national records.
First, European champion Isabel Gose improved her own record from the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the 400 m freestyle by 19 hundredths of a second to 4:03.02 minutes and qualified fourth in the final in the evening.
Then Lucas Matzerath, third at the European Championships, broke the two-year-old German record set by Fabian Schwingenschlögl in the 100m breaststroke by 21 hundredths in 58.74 seconds. In addition, Angelina Köhler missed the 100 m butterfly in 57.23 seconds by just one hundredth of her own record, which she set at the Berlin Open in April.
But Gose’s friend Lukas Märtens, who swam fifth in the final over 400 m freestyle, has the best chance of a medal.
400 m final promises spectacle
“It was important for me to swim a best time again – for feeling and for my head,” said Gose, who will be at the start in what is perhaps the most spectacular final of the World Championships in the evening: Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, US superstar Katie Ledecky and 16-year-old Canadian world record holder Summer McIntosh are fighting for the 400m title.
“I have a lot of respect for the three of them, what they conjure up in the pool, hats off,” said Gose, “it’s a huge honor that I can be there.”
Half an hour earlier, European Champion Märtens grabs his second World Cup medal after last year’s silver. “That’s what I wanted to do from the start, and I’m going in with that goal in mind,” said the 21-year-old after 3:44.42 minutes in the run-up: “I was able to conserve a few more energy.”
Freestyle relay misses final by a hundredth of a second
Like Köhler, Matzerath will first go to the semi-finals. “It has been a little hinted at lately,” said the 23-year-old about his German record, the third-best time in the field: “It was actually clear that it would finally work, I’m super happy.”
Third fastest was also Köhler. “I was super surprised, but I felt so good while swimming, I really flew,” said the Berliner.
The 4x100m freestyle relay missed the final by a hundredth of a second. Rafael Miroslaw, Josha Salchow, Luca Armbruster and Peter Varjasi had to settle for ninth place in 3:14.04 minutes. Märtens’ training colleague Oliver Klemet, third at the World Championships in open water over 10 km, also failed in 21st over 400 m freestyle (3:49.79).