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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Sven Schwarz saved his best for last at the inaugural LEN U23 European Championships in Dublin, as the 21-year-old German stormed to victory in the men’s 800 freestyle in the final individual event of the competition.
The victory and new personal best time was the culmination of a steady progression up the ranks for Schwarz, and was confirmation that he’s among the sport’s best distance freestylers after he narrowly missed qualifying for the World Championships due to Germany being absolutely stacked in the discipline.
Schwarz was a close third behind Lukas Märtens (7:42.14) and Florian Wellbrock (7:42.99) at the Swim Open Berlin in April in a personal best time of 7:43.43, a performance that would’ve qualified for Fukuoka in any other country.
It’s crazy how Sven Schwarz goes 3:45 in the 400 free, 7:41 in the 800 free, and 14:43 in the 1500 free but has never been to Worlds/Olympics because he never finished top 2 in Germany due to names like Martens, Wellbrock, and Klemet.
He would have made the U.S. team easily.
— Yanyan Li (@yyanyanli1) August 14, 2023
But Schwarz bided his time and saved everything up for a big performance in Dublin.
He had a very impressive showing in the 1500 free on the opening day, staying within camera shot of Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, who rolled to one of the fastest swims in history at 14:35.79.
Schwarz took off nearly six seconds from his previous best time in 14:43.53—a time that would’ve been good for fifth at the World Championships—and managed to turn around 48 hours later and deliver in the 800 free.
Racing head-to-head with Wiffen yet again, the two swimmers were even through the first 400 meters, but Schwarz dropped the hammer on the back half, nearly even-splitting the race (3:50.10/3:51.67) en route to winning by nearly four seconds in 7:41.77.
The difference-maker for Schwarz compared to what he managed to do earlier in the year was the front half, as he turned more than two seconds faster at the 400 before closing relatively the same.
Split Comparison
| 2023 Swim Open Berlin (April) | 2023 LEN U23 (August) |
| 27.51 | 27.02 |
| 56.47 (28.96) | 55.32 (28.30) |
| 1:25.79 (29.32) | 1:24.19 (28.87) |
| 1:54.85 (29.06) | 1:53.18 (28.99) |
| 2:24.10 (29.25) | 2:22.13 (28.95) |
| 2:53.52 (29.42) | 2:51.32 (29.19) |
| 3:22.86 (29.34) | 3:20.57 (29.25) |
| 3:52.34 (29.48) | 3:50.10 (29.53) |
| 4:21.40 (29.06) | 4:19.41 (29.31) |
| 4:51.10 (29.70) | 4:48.81 (29.40) |
| 5:20.16 (29.06) | 5:18.04 (29.23) |
| 5:49.48 (29.32) | 5:47.25 (29.21) |
| 6:18.37 (28.89) | 6:16.27 (29.02) |
| 6:47.65 (29.28) | 6:45.55 (29.28) |
| 7:16.21 (28.56) | 7:14.41 (28.86) |
| 7:43.43 (27.22) | 7:41.77 (27.36) |
Schwarz has also had impressive year-over-year progression in the event, improving by more than 10 seconds in the last two years.
Schwarz’s Fastest Times Per Year, 800 Freestyle (LCM)
- 2018 – 8:08.21
- 2019 – 7:53.74
- 2020 – 7:56.37
- 2021 – 7:52.02
- 2022 – 7:46.65
- 2023 – 7:41.77
In the historical rankings, Schwarz has now cracked the top 20 in the 800 free, sitting 17th all-time. Although the event has become increasingly competitive at the top, with the Märtens producing the 12th-fastest swim of all-time at the 2023 World Championships only to place fifth (7:39.48), Schwarz will certainly be one to watch for in the coming years.
In the 400 free, he set a new PB of 3:45.92 in early July, so he’s also a contender there, and his 14:43 swim in the mile from Dublin speaks for itself.
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