BERLIN, Germany, May 4. THE world rankings took a serious hit today at the German National Championships, including a pair of second-ranked times in the world as swimmers closed shop on a swift meet in Berlin.
Hamburger’s Steffen Deibler skyrocketed to second in the SwimVortex world rankings in the men’s 100-meter fly with a blistering time of 51.86. Only Takuro Fujii has been faster with a 51.84 from the Japanese National Championships. Deibler also isn’t far off his German record of 51.19 from last year. Philip Heintz (53.27) and Markus Gierke (53.40) battled for second-place honors.
Marco Koch threw down another incredible time this week, pushing to second in the world in the men’s 200-meter breast with a 2:08.51. Only Michael Jamieson has been faster (2:07.79) as Koch challenged his German national record of 2:08.33 from back in 2009. Nils Wich-Glasen placed second in 2:11.88 with Yannick Lindenberg earning third in 2:11.91.
Paul Biedermann, the world-record holder in the men’s 200-meter free, grabbed his third gold of the meet with a 1:46.25 in said event. That time moved him to sixth in the world rankings as he finished his first significant meet back in long course competition after a bit of a sabbatical with wins in the 100, 200 and 400 frees. Robin Backhaus took second in 1:48.16 with Yannick Lebherz placing third in 1:48.31.
Dorothea Brandt snatched gold number four of the week with a 24.82 in the women’s 50-meter free. That moved her to 13th in the world rankings. Nina Kost placed second in25.75 with Anna Dietterle winding up third in 25.83.
Jenny Mensing raced her way to 14th in the world in the women’s 100-meter back with a winning 1:00.50. A full second behind, Lisa Graf took second in 1:01.05 with Mandy Feldbinder earning third in 1:02.17.
Stadtwerke Munchen’s Alexandra Wenk downed the national junior record in the women’s 100-meter fly with a 58.49. That’s not only within a second of the German record of 57.90 by Annika Mehlhorn from 2009, but also moved Wenk to 14th in the world. Franziska Hentke placed second in 59.43 with Theresa Michalak earning third in 59.76.
Vanessa Grimberg topped the women’s 200-meter breast in 2:26.54, winning by nearly three seconds. Julia Willers downed the national junior record with a second-place 2:29.24, while Michelle Lambert placed third in 2:30.42. Jan-Philip Glania (54.46) clipped Christian Diener (54.73) and Marco Di Carli (54.75) in an exciting men’s 100-meter back finale.
Bjorn Hornikel snared the men’s 50-meter free crown in 22.36 with Deibler placing second in 22.42. Damian Wierling rounded out the top three in 22.50. Annika Bruhn won the women’s 200-meter free to close out the day with a 1:59.16. Johanna Friedrich placed second in 1:59.45 with Sarah Kohler taking third in 2:00.80.
