BERLIN, Germany, February 28. IN total, five new meet records were set, three of which by swimmers of Team GB, on the first day of the ISM in Berlin, Germany.
The first meet record was set by British Siobhan O’Connor who finished the 200m IM in 2:10.35. She won ahead of Aimee Wilmott who hit the wall with a time of 2:13.21, a time that was also faster than the previous meet record of 2:15.77 set in 2012 by Ingvild Snildal. Third of the race was Team GB’s Sophie Allen who finished in 2:17.25.
The first time a German swimmer set a new meet record was in the next event, the men’s 200m IM. Philip Heintz posted a 2:00.37, a time almost four seconds faster than the previous meet record set by Peter Mankoc in 2007. Heintz placed ahead of Team GB’s Joe Roebuck (2:02.35) and Roberto Pavoni (2:03.64).
It was back to the women and Team GB’s Elizabeth Simmonds who set a new meet record in the 200m backstroke where she finished with a time of 2:08.91. She placed ahead of German Jenny Mensing who finished with a time of 2:10.06 and Team GB’s Rachel Lefley who posted a 2:13.95. In an earlier final of the 15 and 16 year olds, the 16-year-old German Sonele Oetztuerk swam to a 2:11.19, a time that would have placed her third in the final.
The men’s 200m breaststroke then was one of the hightlights of the day and it appears that the breaststroke-duel between Team GB’s Michael Jamieson and the German Marco Koch is going to continue this year. Jamieson and Koch faced one another once again in the final of the 200m breaststroke. In the end it was Marco Koch who hit the wall first with a meet record time of 2:08.84 ahead of Jamieson who swam a time of 2:11.55, a time that was also under the meet record he set back in 2010. The third-fastest swim was posted by Adam Peaty with a time of 2:12.24.
The last two meet records were set in the two last races of the day. In the women’s 400m IM, it was then Team GB’s Aimee Wilmott who set a meet record. She swam to a 4:36.48, nearly 12 seconds faster than the previous record set by Boglarka Kapas in 2009 and also 12 seconds ahead of the next fastest swimmer. Wilmott finished ahead of the Italian Luisa Trombetti who swam to a 4:48.21 and the Hungarian Reka Gyoergy who finished in 4:51.10.
In the men’s 400m IM, it was then Roberto Pavoni who set a new meet record. In a 1-2-3 sweep from Team GB, he swam to 4.20.85, which was almost six seconds faster than the previous meet record from 2008. Second-placed Matthew Johnson also stayed under the old meet record with a time of 4:21.49. Third in the race was Mark Szaranek who finished with 4:29.20.
See all results of day one of the ISM here.