According to different German press releases, German national swim team member Florian Vogel jumped into the river Isar in Munich on Wednesday to save a drowning woman. The 20 year old Vogel was there with the German publication “Bild-Zeitung” for a photoshoot when the fully clothed, 24-year-old woman passed the photo set floating helplessly in the water.
The top swimmer jumped into the cold water (14 degrees Celsius or about 57 Fahrenheit) and managed to swim back to the shore through the very strong current with the woman in one arm. According to a police spokesperson, the woman has been hospitalized but is still alive. German police said that she had tried to kill herself.
“That was the toughest race of my life and the sickest thing I have ever experienced.” said Vogel afterwards. Yesterday he posted this on his Facebook page:
I want to thank you all for your kind words during the last hours but I want to distance myself from the role as a “hero” . Different fortunate circumstances came together in this situation – me as a competitive swimmer on the shore and then also a doctor was nearby. I’am very glad that I could help the girl and would not hesitate to do so again.
Florian Vogel, German swimming. Photo credit: Alibek Käsler/swimsportnews.de
Florian Vogel is the 2015 German Champion in the 400 m and 800 m Freestyle, and he ranked 7th in the 800 m with a 7:52,57 and 10th with a 3:46,53 in the world rankings. He trains in Munich at “Stadtwerke München” and is going to swim both distances in Kazan at World Championships. Lately he trained with Paul Biedermann and both said in an interview with German publication “Tagesspiegel” in April that they benefit from joint training and pushed each other to new limits. Biedermann is the current world record holder in the 200 and 400 m Freestyle.