The German National Team Championships are an event for German swim clubs – each club must swim the Olympic program over three sessions (two on Saturday, one on Sunday) but there are no relays. Every swimmer is only allowed to swim in 5 different individual short course events. The achieved times are converted into points according to the FINA scoreboard, the women’s and the men’s team with the most points win the title.
Many German elite swimmers competed in Essen, Germany, in the top league, the “1. Bundesliga” including names like Franziska Hentke, Sarah Köhler, Marco Koch, Christian Diener, Yannick Lebherz, Damian Wierling, Poul Zellmann and youngsters like Isabel Gose.
The SV Würzburg 05 added again many Hungarian swimmers to the men’s and women’s team for the third year in a row, like Zsuzsanna Jacabos and Gabor Balog. Also the SV Nikar Heidelberg has with Julia Hassler and Nina Kost athletes in the team who start internationally for other countries, but have trained for many years in Heidelberg with coach Dr. Michael Spikermann.
Top scorer over the two days was Sarah Köhler (her swim club: SG Frankfurt, but she trains in Heidelberg), she earned 902 FINA points for her team, posting 8:16,09 in the 800m freestyle and 4:01,34 in the 400m freestyle, worth 917 points. Also Leonie Beck (SV Würzburg 05) collected many points, she was clocked at 4:05,47 in the 400m freestyle (872 points) and 8:23,00 in the 800m freestyle (865 points). Isabel Gose, a 15-old from Potsdamer SV, earned 833 points for her team with her time of 4:09,22 in the 400m freestyle.
Sören Meißner was one of the busiest points collectors for the champion SV Würzburg 05, he got 894 FINA points for a time of 14:40,01 on the 1500 m freestyle.
Nina Kost (SV Heidelberg), who now starts internationally for Switzerland, got 843 points for her result on the 50 m freestyle (24,60). Germany’s fastest sprint lady over the last 10 years, Dorothea Brandt, supported her team SG Essen after a long injury period, posting 25,00 in the 50m freestyle.
Best scorers for the men’s team of the SG Essen were Poul Zellmann and Damian Wierling. Zellmann picked 886 points for his perfomance in the 1500 m freestyle (14:42,71) and 874 points in the 400m freestyle (3:41,94).
Damian Wierling is Germany’s fastest sprinter at the moment and paid 840 points into his team’s account, posting 21,47 in the 50m freestyle.
European Champion and World Championships silver medalist Franziska Hentke (SV Magdeburg) took the top time in the 200m butterfly (2:08,05), worth 815 points. The German team championships are a challenge for every team because the Olympic program must be swum three times and it was up to Franziska Hentke to swim 200m breaststroke and she posted a time of 2:26,52, very fast for a butterfly specialist.
Backstroke specialist Christian Diener (Potsdamer SV) reached 840 points with his performance in the 200 m (1:51,93). His teammate Yannick Lebherz collected 837 points in the 200m freestyle (1:45,44) and 831 points in the 400m IM (4:10,39)
On the women’s side, Annika Bruhn (SSG Saar Max Ritter) posted one of the fastest 200m freestyle times in 1:56,95 (849 points)
Robin Backhaus (SG Neukölln e.V. Berlin) gained 826 points over the 200m freestyle in 1:45,88. 833 points worth was the performance of David Thomasberger on the 200m fly (1:55,34).
Marco Koch is the SC World record holder in the 200m breaststroke, he was clocked at 2:06,42 yesterday and gained 864 points for the DSV Darmstadt.
And the women’s team of the SV Nikar Heidelberg had a special guest in their team, Petra Dallmann (born 1978) who won the bronze medal with the German 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She was between 2000 and 2010 one of the fastest German freestyle swimmers, she won many international medals. She set a 57,61 in the 50m freestyle yesterday.
Women’s results:
1. SV Würzburg 05 28250
2. SG Essen 27238
3. SV Nikar Heidelberg 26994
4. SG Frankfurt 26489
5. Wfr. Spandau 04 25864
6. SG Dortmund 25303
7. SSG Saar Max Ritter 25230
8. 1. Potsdamer SV 25134
9. SG Neukölln e.V. Berlin 25114
10. SC Magdeburg 24705
11. SV Halle / Saale 24189
12. W98 Hannover 21412
Men’s results:
1. SV Würzburg 05 28913
2. 1. Potsdamer SV 28652
3. SG Essen 27825
4. SG Frankfurt 27101
5. DSW 1912 Darmstadt 26534
6. SG Neukölln e.V. Berlin 26115
7. SG Stadtwerke München 26049
8. SV Halle / Saale 25649
9. W98 Hannover 25586
10. SC Magdeburg 25284
11. SSG Saar Max Ritter 25241
12. SG EWR Rheinhessen-Mainz 25097