By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2025 GERMAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, May 1st – Sunday, May 4th
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries/Results
On the heels of the Berlin Swim Open and the Gaether & Friends swim meets, the 2025 German Swimming Championships began tonight in Berlin.
This competition marks an additional qualification opportunity for athletes to add their names to the nation’s roster for this summer’s World Championships, although German athletes were able to qualify for Singapore at any World Aquatics-approved competition from April 7th through May 4th.
Several big guns have already hit the selection standards at competitions like last month’s Swim Open Stockholm. You can view the current standings as of Wednesday, April 30th in the preview linked above.
We already reported how Olympic champion Lukas Märtens fired off a time of 3:40.61 tonight to take the men’s 400m freestyle, putting up the 10th-best performance in history.
Tonight’s effort was a follow-up to the monster 3:39.96 World Record he established last month in Stockholm.
Runner-up in the 4free here went to Oliver Klemet in 3:43.43 while Florian Wellbrock rounded out the podium in 3:46.44.
Klemet’s season-best of 3:43.40 ranks him #2 in the world this season; he’ll be paired with Märtens to represent Germany in the event in Singapore.
The women’s 400m free saw 22-year-old Olympic medalist Isabel Gose come within striking distance of her national record en route to beating the field.
Gose, who earned 1500m bronze in Paris, stopped the clock at 4:03.65, only 1.51 off the 4:02.14 German benchmark established at those Olympic Games.
Her time this evening beat her previous season-best and World Championships-qualifying performance of 4:04.95. She now bumps herself up several spots in the world rankings to take over slot #3.
2024-2025 LCM Women 400 Free
LEDECKY
4:01.04
| 2 | Lani PALLISTER | AUS | 4:02.34 | 04/23 |
| 3 | Isabel GOSE | GER | 4:03.65 | 05/01 |
| 4 | Erika Fairweather | NZL | 4:04.55 | 04/23 |
| 5 | Claire Weinstein | USA | 4:04.80 | 05/01 |
Behind Gose this evening was improving starlet Maya Werner who registered a silver medal-worthy 4:06.04 as the only other sub-4:10 swimmer.
Werner’s effort shaved .30 off her previous lifetime best of 4:06.34 logged just last week at the Gothaer & Friends meet. She now froghops Leonie Kullmann to become Germany’s #3 performer ever.
Top 5 German Women’s LCM 400 Free Performers All-Time
- Isabel Gose– 4:02.14, 2024
- Sarah Kohler – 4:03.96, 2017
- Maya Werner– 4:06.04, 2025
- Leonie Kullmann – 4:06.25, 2021
- Hannah Stockbauer – 4:06.55, 2000
Additional swiwmers made their marks in the men’s 400m IM and 100m fly events, with the races accumulating multiple qualifiers.
In the former, UIndy’s Cedric Büssing put up a season-best of 4:13.56 to clear the field decisively, dipping under the German Swimming Federation QT of 4:15.50.
The Olympian’s lifetime best remains at the 4:11.52 registered at last year’s Olympic Games.
The 1fly saw a trio of finishers clear the 52-second threshold, led by 23-year-old Luca Armbruster.
Armbruster busted out a podium-topping 51.21, a significant new personal best.
Entering this competition, Armbruster’s PB rested at the 51.68 posted at last year’s championships.
However, splitting 23.60/27.61 this evening, Armbruster came just .02 shy of Steffen Deibler‘s longstanding German record of 51.19 put on the books in 2013.
Right behind Armruster was Josha Salchow, who has been training and racing in Australia for the past several months.
Salchow ripped a time of 51.28 to snag the silver, dipping under the 52-second barrier for the first time in his carreer.
His previous PB checked in at the 52.50 earned in Brisbane last year.
The pair now represents Germany’s #2 and #3 all-time performers.
Austria’s Simon Bucher scored bronze this evening in 51.77.
Top 5 German Men’s LCM 100 Butterfly Performers All-Time
- Steffen Deibler– 51.19, 2013
- Luca Armbruster– 51.21, 2025
- Benjamin Starke – 51.22, 2009
- Josha Salchow– 51.28, 2025
- Marius Kusch – 51.35, 2019
Additional Notes
- Lise Seidel was the quickest women’s 100m backstroke performer, putting up a time of 1:00.93 to take the event by nearly 2 seconds. Unfortunately for Seidel, she needed a minimum of 59.90 to qualify for Worlds, although she’s already made the grade in the 200m back event.
- Noelle Benkler posted a gold medal-worthy swim of 4:44.02 to top the women’s 400m IM podium. The German Swimming Federation set a selection standard of 4:41.90 for Singapore, a threshold under which no woman from the nation has been during the qualification period.
- World champion Angelina Köhler logged yet another impressive outing in the women’s 100m butterfly. The 24-year-old punched a result of 56.51 (26.17/30.34) to come within .40 of her national record of 56.11. That faster outing was registered at last year’s World Championships in Doha. At last week’s Berlin Swim Open, she nailed 56.33 as the 3rd-swiftest performance of her career.
German World Championships qualifiers
* Qualified at these German Championships
| Qualified | Women | Event | Men | Qualified |
| 24.80 | 50m Free | 22.00 | ||
| Nina Holt, 53.81 | 54.20 | 100m Free | 48.20 | |
| 1:57.10 | 200m Free | 1:46.30 | Lukas Märtens, 1:45.55 | |
| Isabel Gose, 4:03.65*Maya Werner, 4:06.04* | 4:08.70 | 400m Free | 3:47.00 | Lukas Märtens, 3:39.96Oliver Klemet, 3:43.30 |
| Isabel Gose, 8:24.64 | 8:31.80 | 800m Free | 7:47.10 | Lukas Märtens, 7:39.10Florian Wellbrock, 7:41.10 Oliver Klemet, 7:44.92 Sven Schwarz, 7:46.01 |
| Isabel Gose, 15:58.17 | 16:15.80 | 1500m Free | 14:57.50 | Florian Wellbrock, 14:38.27Oliver Klemet, 14:43.01 Sven Schwarz, 14:52.62 Johannes Liebmann, 14:57.00 |
| Angelina Köhler, 56.33 | 58.00 | 100m Fly | 51.60 | Luca Armbruster, 51.21* Josha Salchow, 51.28* |
| 2:09.40 | 200m Fly | 1:55.70 | ||
| 59.90 | 100m Back | 53.50 | ||
| Lise Seidel, 2:10.76 | 2:11.50 | 200m Back | 1:57.60 | |
| Anna Elendt, 1:05.97 | 1:06.80 | 100m Breast | 59.70 | Melvin Imoudu, 59.11 |
| 2:25.60 | 200m Breast | 2:10.60 | ||
| 2:11.40 | 200m IM | 1:58.10 | ||
| 4:41.90 | 400m IM | 4:15.50 | Cedric Büssing, 4:13.56* | |
| 3:39.79 | 4x100m Free | 3:15.40 | ||
| 7:57.50 | 4x200m Free | 7:09.95 | 7:08.34 – Lukas Märtens, 1:45.55; Rafael Miroslaw, 1:47.48; Timo Sorgius, 1:47.52; Philipp Peschke, 1:47.69 | |
| 3:56.85 – Lise Seidel, 1:00.74; Anna Elendt, 1:05.97; Angelina Köhler, 56.93; Nina Holt, 53.81 | 4:01.37 | 4x100m Medley | 3:35.33 | 3:35.18 – Lukas Märtens, 54.18; Melvin Imoudu, 1:00.32; Luca Armbruster, 52.38; Josha Salchow, 48.30 |
| 3:44.64 – Lukas Märtens, 54.18; Melvin Imoudu, 1:00.32, Angelina Köhler, 56.93; Nina Holt, 53.81 | 3:46.70 | 4x100m Mixed Medley | 3:46.70 | 3:44.64 – Lukas Märtens, 54.18; Melvin Imoudu, 1:00.32, Angelina Köhler, 56.93; Nina Holt, 53.81 |
| 3:26.11 – Nina Holt, 53.81; Nele Schulze, 55.56, Josha Salchow, 48.30; Rafael Miroslaw, 48.44 | 3:28.42 | 4x100m Mixed Free | 3:28.42 | 3:26.11 – Nina Holt, 53.81; Nele Schulze, 55.56, Josha Salchow, 48.30; Rafael Miroslaw, 48.44 |
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Luca Armbruster Busts Out 51.21 100 Fly Lifetime Best As Germany’s #2 Performer