During the final day of the German National Championships in Berlin, Marco Koch won the national title in his signature event, setting up a defense of the World title he won in 2015, while Lisa Graf took down a German record in the women’s 200 back.
Nina Kost opened the day with a win in the women’s 50 free, touching in 25.21. She just edged out Anna Dietterle, who took second in 25.25, and Angelina Kohler took third in 25.48.
Next up on the program, Koch dominated the men’s 200 breast, winning in 2:08.69 to move to seventh in the world rankings. Max Pilger finished as the runner-up, touching at 2:10.53, and third went to Fabien Schwingenschlogl in 2:11.39.
Graf blasted a 2:07.63 to win the women’s 200 back, crushing Jenny Mensing’s previous national mark of 2:08.30 from 2012. Graf also improved to fourth in the world in the event this year. Graf won the race by more than 2.5 seconds, while Mensing tied with teenager Sonnele Ozturk for second, with both recording times of 2:10.37.
Marius Kusch threw down a strong performance to win the men’s 100 fly, touching at 51.83. Kusch moved into the top eight in the world rankings with that effort. Alexander Kunert finished second in 53.07, and Luca Nik Armbruster took third in 53.31.
Aliena Schmidtke, already the national title-winner in the women’s 50 fly, added a win in the 100-meter distance. Schmidtke touched in 58.02, while 200 fly winner Franziska Hentke settled for second in 58.56. Third went to Lisa Hopink in 59.61.
Poul Zellman finished first in the men’s 200 free, touching in 1:47.14, while Clemens Rapp (1:47.85) and Phillip Heintz (1:47.93) joined Zollman under 1:48 to complete the top three.
In the final event of the meet, Sarah Kohler won the women’s 800 free, recording the only sub-8:30 time as she touched in 8:29.97. Celine Rieder finished second in 8:33.03, and Julia Hassler came in third at 8:37.05.
