By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers which male swimmer was the biggest winner during the big week of international trials meets in early April:
Question: Which male swimmers’ stock rose the most during the first week of trials meets?
RESULTS
- Lukas Märtens (GER) – 56.5%
- Joshua Liendo (CAN) – 19.0%
- Duncan Scott (GBR) – 13.3%
- Lewis Burras (GBR) – 9.0%
- Rafael Miroslaw (GER) – 2.1%
It comes as no surprise that Germany’s Lukas Märtens emerged as the leading vote-getter in the poll, as the 20-year-old had a dynamite showing at the Stockholm Open as he rattled off world #1 times in the men’s 200 free (1:45.44), 400 free (3:41.60) and 800 free (7:41.43).
His swim in the 400 free was the fastest anyone has gone in the last five years, while the 800 free clocking marked a new German Record, bettering the previous mark held by Olympic medalist Florian Wellbrock.
Märtens’ stock went up in a big way, no doubt, but he came into the Stockholm meet fresh off a 14:40.28 swim in the 1500 free which had probably already elevated him into the upper-echelon of men’s distance freestylers this year.
He showed how wide his range is in Stockholm, and is probably now the favorite at the 2022 World Championships in the 400 free, but he remains just one of a handful of swimmers in the hunt for titles in the 800 and 1500, with the likes of Wellbrock, Bobby Finke, Mykhailo Romanchuk and Gregorio Paltrinieri also expected to be in the mix.
So while Märtens raised his value during that week, garnering 56.5 percent of the vote in this poll, there was an argument to be made that the likes of Joshua Liendo and Duncan Scott did so even more, though in very different ways.
For Liendo, who had a breakout performance at the Short Course World Championships in December, he proved that he’s ready to take the next step in the long course pool, as the 19-year-old blasted his way to new Canadian Records in the 50 free (21.63) and 100 fly (50.88), taking over first and second, respectively, in the 2021-22 world rankings.
An Olympic semi-finalist last summer, Liendo’s performances asserted himself as a legitimate medal contender at the World Championships this summer, and given that how young he is and how rapidly he’s improving, the sky is the limit.
For Scott, who was already well established coming into the British Trials and had even punched his ticket to the World Championships by virtue of his Olympic performances, he annihilated the British Record in the 400 IM in 4:09.18 (also #1 in the world and faster than it took to win Olympic gold in 2021), which all of a sudden puts him in the running for three individual World titles this year.
Scott also put up respectable times in the 200 free (1:45.54) and 200 IM (1:56.08) in Sheffield, and given that neither were lifetime bests, it gives us an indication he might have even more to give in the 400 IM come Budapest.
Liendo picked up a significant number of votes, landing at 19 percent, while Scott sat third at 13.3.
Märtens may have been the swimmer who came out of ‘nowhere’, in a sense, but Liendo proved he’s ready for major long course championship podiums and Scott put himself in position to vie for three individual titles in Budapest. All stocks raised in different ways.
Also considered in the poll was Great Britain’s Lewis Burras and Germany’s Rafael Miroslaw, who both took big steps forward in dipping under the 48-second threshold in the 100 freestyle.
Burras went 47.88, which ranks him tied for first in the world with Italian Alessandro Miressi and put him just .01 shy of Scott’s British Record. Miroslaw clocked 47.92 to set a new German Record and rank third in 2021-22.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks: Which event would the U.S. have the best chance of sweeping the podium if they could bring three swimmers to Worlds (in other words, which race’s third-place finisher at the upcoming U.S. World Trials would be a potential medalist in Budapest):
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: SwimSwam Pulse: 56.5% Say Märtens’ Stock Rose Most During International Trials