Swimming World Championship
Märtens is seventh in Budapest over 200 meters freestyle
Eliminated in the preliminary heat: Lukas Märtens. Photo: Petr David Josek/AP/dpa
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Lukas Märtens finished seventh in the 200-meter freestyle at the swimming world championships.
Lukas Märtens finished seventh in the 200-meter freestyle at the swimming world championships.
The 20-year-old scored in Budapest after 1:45.73 minutes. World champion was the only 17-year-old Romanian David Popovici, who needed 1:43.21 minutes. Hwang Sunwoo of South Korea secured silver ahead of Tom Dean of Great Britain.
Märtens was surprisingly eliminated in the lead over 800 meters. The man from Magdeburg, who had won the silver medal over 400 meters two days earlier, was exhausted after his exhausting races on the first days of the World Championships. “You could see that the tank was empty. There was really nothing more. I wanted to get to the final, but it wasn’t enough,” said Märtens after the 800 meter performance.
While Märtens gets a break, Lucas Matzerath swims over 50 meters breaststroke in the final. In the semifinals, he set the fourth fastest time of 26.99 seconds, a personal best for the 22-year-old, as in previous appearances. “I’m curious to see what comes out on Tuesday,” said Matzerath.
Freestyle swimmer Isabel Gose entered the final over 200 meters in seventh place overall. In her semi-final she was third in 1:56.82 minutes. “I’m over the moon about reaching the final. I knew that I had to be over a second quicker than in the heat to do that. That worked,” said Gose.