German Open 2016, Berlin
- Tuesday July 5th – Friday July 8th 2016
- Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark (SSE), Berlin
- Competition website
- Psych sheet
- Livetiming
- Results
Today the German Open kicked off in Berlin – the last chance for some already pre-qualified swimmers to get their tickets to the Rio Olympic Games. Here is a short reminder about the German qualifiying standard:
The 2016 German National Championships were the first part of a two-step nomination procedure for the Olympic Games. The athletes had to swim defined times at National Championships in prelims and in finals. All swimmers who achieved the times would have been part of the so called “long list” and informed German Head Coach Henning Lambertz in the period of one week after German Nationals in which meet they wanted to confirm the required second performance of the nomination process: at one of the three meets of the Mare Nostrum tour or German Open. They could only choose ONE of these four possibilities. For these meets, other times have been set which are approximately 1,5 % slower than those at German nationals. All swimmers who reach the times and have also finished first or second at the German National Championships will qualify for Rio.
Among those who have chosen the German Open for the second qualification step are: Damian Wierling (50m Freestyle), Florian Vogel (200m Freestyle), Christoph Fildebrandt (200m Freestyle) , Christian Diener (200m Backstroke), Philip Heintz (200m IM) , Leonie Beck (800m Freestyle), Sarah Köhler (400m, 800m Freestyle), Lisa Graf (200m Backstroke).
Munich’s freestyle expert Florian Vogel made the Rio Olympic team yet – but he also wants to swim the 200 m freestyle in addition to 400 m. Vogel needs to fight with Christoph Fildebrandt for the second individual spot alongside Paul Biedermann – Vogel and Fildebrandt must reach the nomination standards in prelims and finals at the German Open – if both crack the standard time then Florian Vogel may start in Rio because he finished second at the German Championships – but Christoph Fildebrandt will get a spot in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay.
Tonight Sarah Köhler and Leonie Beck have qualified for Rio in the 800 m freestyle: Köhler won the race in 8:29,15 and Beck touched the wall second in 8:37,53. Köhler’s season best time is a 8:22,80 and she sits 6th in the world ranking.
The German Swimming Federation (DSV) has announced the following athletes who have already qualified during the Mare Nostrum series for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio:
Jan-Philip Glania (100m, 200m Backstroke), Jacob Heidtmann (400m IM), Johannes Hintze (400m IM) Florian Vogel (400m Freestyle), Florian Wellbrock (1500m Freestyle), Dorothea Brandt (50m Freestyle), Franziska Hentke (200m Butterfly), Alexandra Wenk (100m Butterfly, 200m IM). Paul Biedermann (200m Freestyle) and Marco Koch (200m Breaststroke) are the exceptions, they are nominated for the Olympics since the German National Championships because they finished first there and have won medals at the 2015 World Championships.
Biedermann won’t swim at the German Open but Marco Koch is listed in the heat sheets in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke.