By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2025 GERMAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, May 1st – Sunday, May 4th
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries/Results
Day two of the 2025 German Swimming Championships unfolded tonight in Berlin with World Championships bids on the line.
As a refresher, this competition marks an additional qualification opportunity for athletes to add their names to the nation’s roster for Singapore, although German athletes were able to qualify at any World Aquatics-approved competition from April 7th through May 4th.
23-year-old Lukas Märtens has already made the grade in multiple events, highlighted by the men’s 400m freestyle, the race in which he ripped a new World Record earlier this month.
At the Swim Open Stockholm on April 13th, Märtens overtook the longstanding 400m free WR benchmark of 3:40.07 retired countryman Paul Biedermann put on the books during the supersuited 2009 World Championships.
Märtens’ effort rendered him the first-ever man under the 3:40 barrier, surpassing his previous lifetime best of 3:40.33 notched at the 2024 German Nationals.
While Märtens bypassed the 400m free event at last week’s Berlin Swim Open, he was back at it tonight and put up another head-turning performance of 3:40.61 to grab the gold.
The reigning Olympic champion led 23-year-old Oliver Klemet who clocked 3:43.43 for silver, followed by Olympic champion and open water ace Florian Wellbrock.
Wellbrock touched in 3:46.44 while 18-year-old Johannes Liebmann followed up his 1500m free German Age Record from last weekend with a solid 3:48.79 as the 4th place finisher.
Splits for top 4 finishers:
Klemet was just off his season-best of 3:43.30 to retain his position as the 2nd German Worlds qualifier.
As for Märtens, his 3:40.61 effort this evening represents the 10th-best performance in history and he now owns 3 of the swiftest swims ever produced. It also beat his Olympic gold medal-winning result of 3:41.78 from Paris.
Top 10 Men’s LCM 400 Free Performances All-Time
- 3:39.96 – Lukas Märtens (GER), 2025
- 3:40.07 – Paul Biedermann (GER), 2009
- 3:40.08 – Ian Thorpe (AUS), 2002
- 3:40.14 – Sun Yang (CHN), 2012
- 3:40.17 – Ian Thorpe, 2001
- 3:40.29 – Sun Yang, 2011
- 3:40.33 – Lukas Märtens, 2024
- 3:40.54 – Ian Thorpe, 2002
- 3:40.59 – Ian Thorpe, 2000
- 3:40.61 – Lukas Märtens, 2025
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Germany’s Lukas Märtens Rocks 3:40.61 400 Free World Record Follow-up