This past saturday, two German swimmers shattered the national record for meters completed over the course of 24 hours. Andreas Suck or Schonebecker Swim Club and Vera Niemeyer of Kohlscheider Swim Club each swam an amazing 80,000 meters. Niemeyer swam 9000 meters more than the previous best women’s performance. Suck improved the men’s record by 4000 meters.
The swim was part of an official event in Aachen. This was the inaugural competition, although attempts at the 24 hour record have been made before. Both swimmers are experienced, Suck is 28 years old while Niemeyer is 25.
Niemeyer swam collegiately for the Marshall University Thundering Herd. While at Marshall she set school records in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. Suck is a nationally competitive masters swimmer. For Niemeyer it was her first time ever attempting such a swim.
The two swam in tandem in early going, but eventually Suck fell several thousand meters behind the stronger Niemeyer. She then waited at 79,900 meters so that the two could complete the historic swim together. Niemeyer said of Suck “[He] gave me security that we were both going after the same goal”.
The meet organizes provided us the following highlight video of the event. Check out Suck still squeezing off a few underwater dolphin kicks on the final length at 2:30:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vicdBE49L5E