Lukas Martens Edges Florian Wellbrock For 800 Freestyle Title At Berlin Open
On the opening night of the Berlin Open, Florian Wellbrock rose to the fourth-fastest performer in the history of the 1500-meter freestyle as a stacked field delivered a number of stellar times. Well, the distance show continued on Saturday evening, but this time it was Lukas Martens who claimed victory in a tight duel with Wellbrock.
Battling Wellbrock throughout the 16-lap race, Martens fended off his countryman and came away with a performance of 7:42.14, the top time in the world this year. Martens clinched the decision with a 27.00 split for his closing 50 meters, an effort that kept Wellbrock at bay. Nonetheless, Wellbrock was superb in his silver-medal showing, as he put together a swim of 7:42.99 for No. 2 in the world rankings.
Sven Schwartz hung with the big guys to the finish and placed third in 7:43.43, followed by the Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk (7:44.27). Those marks are the third- and fourth-fastest times in the world for 2023.
Isabel Gose put together one of the finest efforts of the year in the women’s 800 freestyle, clocking sub-8:20 for the event title. Placing more than 12 seconds ahead of runnerup Moesha Johnson of Australia, Gose was timed in 8:19.65. The reigning silver medalist in the 800 freestyle from the European Championships, Gose split 4:09.14 for the front half and recorded a back-half split of 4:10.51.
A key cog for Indiana University, Rafael Miroslaw registered his second victory of the meet when he prevailed in the 100 freestyle. Already the champion in the 200 freestyle from Friday night, Miroslaw cruised to a first-place finish in the two-lap event. Miroslaw produced an effort of 48.52, with Marius Kusch going 49.23 for second place.
Coming off a German record in the 50 backstroke on Friday night, Ole Braunschweig earned a tight win over Cornelius Jahn in the 100 backstroke. Braunschweig touched the wall in 53.81, which held off the 54.09 of Jahn. Braunschweig benefited from his early speed, as he turned in an opening split of 25.63 to build a half-second advantage.
David Thomasberger took top honors in the 200 butterfly, as his swim of 1:56.60 supplied a comfortable victory over runnerup Ramon Klenz (1:58.29). No athletes broke the minute barrier in the women’s 100 backstroke, where Adela Piskorska was the top finisher in 1:00.16. In the men’s 50 breaststroke, Melvin Imoudu was quickest with a time of 27.12.
Wellbrock isn’t #2 in the world rankings. Short was faster than him a few days ago.