Germany’s Lukas Martens Has Produced Freestyle Range to Appreciate
Amid 10 world-record performances, some efforts at the recent World Championships in Fukuoka went overlooked. Such is the nature of global competition. Not all efforts receive their due – at least in the moment. Consider Germany’s Lukas Martens as someone who flourished at the Marine Messe Hall, but was not as appreciated as he should have been.
During the eight-day meet in Southern Japan, Martens churned out spectacular efforts in all freestyle events from the 200-meter distance through the 1500. His finest showing was a bronze-medal swim in the 400 freestyle, where Martens touched the wall in 3:42.20. It just happened that the two guys on the podium with Martens, Australian Sam Short and Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, went 3:40.68 and 3:40.70 to become the No. 4 and No. 5 performers in history.
In Fukuoka, Martens also clocked 7:39.48 for fifth in the 800 freestyle, his time the third-fastest of all-time by a European. There was also a 14:44.51 performance in the 1500 freestyle. Probably most-overlooked was Martens’ time in the 200 freestyle, which he recorded as the leadoff leg of Germany’s 800 freestyle relay. On the front of that relay, Martens went 1:44.79.
Simply, Martens’ range is something to appreciate. To demonstrated sub-1:45 speed in the 200 freestyle and be able to stretch to the 14:40s in the 1500 freestyle is not an easy balance, and deserves recognition. On the road to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Martens will certainly be someone to watch.
Lukas Martens (Personal-Best Times)
200 Freestyle (1:44.79)
400 Freestyle (3:41.60)
800 Freestyle (7:39.48)
1500 Freestyle (14:40.28)