Paul Biedermann, Steffen and Markus Deibler took part in the second league of the short course meters German National Team Championships on Saturday in Oldenburg, Germany. Markus Deibler is the 100 m IM world record holder – but he retired in 2014 after he set the world record and won the gold medal at the 2014 SC World Championships in Doha/Quatar. Steffen Deibler holds the 50 m butterfly SC world record and Paul Biedermann is the world record holder in the 200 m and 400 m freestyle (LC).
The German National Team Championships have several divisions, the highest are the “1. and 2. Bundesliga” – the 1st and 2nd league. The 2nd league is divided in north, south and west and the 2nd league teams are allocated geographically to the three divisions. Every year, two men and women teams have the chance to move up to the 1st league and two teams of the 1st league are removed to the 2nd one. Paul Biedermann`s team, the SV Halle/Saale, is going to start in the 1st league next year.
This year, Biedermann and the Deibler brothers competed in Oldenburg, in the 2nd league north. The teams in the 2nd division swam the full Olympic program over two sessions on one day.
Steffen Deibler started with fast perfomances into the Olympic year: He clocked 1:45,98 in the 200 m freestyle, 21,86 in the 50 m freestyle, 47,77 in the 100 m freestyle and 51,62 in the 100 m butterfly. His brother Markus helped his team to collect points with finishing 1:01,40 in the 100 m breaststroke, 53,81 in the 100 m Butterfly, 22,20 in the 50 Freestyle and 48,27 in the 100 m Freestyle – faster than Paul Biedermann who touched the wall after 49,29 seconds. Biedermann also jumped into the pool for the 400 m freestyle, finished in 3:48,43 and the 200 m freestyle where he came in a little slower than Steffen Deibler in 1:46,25 minutes.
Markus Deibler said that his appearance isn’t a comeback – he only wants to help his team, the Hamburger SC, to collect points.
The Teams who collected the most points in the 2nd league were the SG Bayer and Wasserfreunde Spandau on the women’s side and the SV Halle/Saale and the SG Dortmund on the men`s side. They will swim in the first league next year.
German National Team Champions 2016
Why is that so?
Markus has his own business in Hamburg, an ice-cream parlor and there was a point he said that he didn’t want to train every day and haven’t had the motivation to continue competitve swimming. You find more information here:
http://swimswam.com/germanys-deibler-announces-retirement/
http://swimswam.com/press-conference-retired-markus-deibler-german-funding/
That is one of my all-time favorite SwimSwam headlines.
I assume this is a SC meet?
Yes, German team nationals are short course.