The highlights of the third day of the Short Course German National Championships in Wuppertal were a pair of Age Group Records; one from 17-year old Silke Lippok and one from 18-year old Christian Diener.
Lippok broke the 200 freestyle mark with a 1:55.04, which cleared her own mark set a month ago (she was much faster last year, as a 16-year old, however). The 9-time European Junior Champion continues to be the brightest young star in the German lineup. She’s already the German National Record in this event in short course, and has many-times cleared the 18-year old record that she will begin chasing in January. After she clips that mark, she will have every age-best time from 13-18, plus the senior mark. Though she was very good at a young age, she had no issues with continuing her development well into her teens.
That mark makes Lippok 10th in the world, though she’s not yet been as strong in this short course season as she was in last. Expect her, however, to mark a 1:53-low and contend for the European Championship in a few weeks in Poland.
In the race before Lippok’s, the men’s 200 back, another junior mark was broken by Diener in 1:51.99, which ranks him 7th in the World this year. That crushes his career-best time, is the fastest an 18-year old German has ever been, and moves him into 5th on Germany’s all-time list.
Among other highlights was the women’s 200 IM. Even without Theresa Michalak in attendance, the country’s best short course IM’er, there was still a great battle between the veteran Katherina Schiller and the teenager Alexandra Wenk. It was a back-and-forth affair, with Wenk taking a sizable lead after the backstroke leg, and Schiller fighting back to dominate the breaststroke. Headed into the freestyle distances, the battle seemed out of contention, but the younger Wenk closed incredibly well on Schiller. Ultimately, though, the veteran had just enough to hold on for the win in 2:10.75, to Wenk’s 2:10.99. For both swimmers, those are best times by a significant margin.
In the men’s 1500, Christian Kubusch put up a strong 14:52.55 to move into the world’s top-20 with his best time of the season.
In the men’s 50 breaststroke, a strong field was topped by a resurgent Erik Steinhagen out of Essen in 27.25, which is a career-best for him. Among those that he bested included Johannes Neumann (27.44), Henrik Feldwehr (27.50), and Marco Koch (27.58). The women’s version of the race was won in a strong finish of 30.32, though not a season-best, from Dorothea Brandt.
Other stars to take victories on the 3rd day include 21-year old Markus Deibler in the 100 IM in 53.42, which is somewhat slower than would have been expected from him even in heavy training.
In the men’s 100 free, Christoph Fildebrandt pulled off a bit of an upset to win in 47.98. He had very strong relay swims in Shanghai (as fast as a 48.4) and with this National title he continues to propel himself further into the upper levels of German swimming. Combined with Biedermann, the Deibler borthers, and Marco di Carli, there becomes some good flexibility for a strong 400 free relay quartet.
Di Carli touched 2nd in 48.37. Though that time might be a disappointment to his fans in number, he has always been better in long course than short. Further, he’s always been very much a taper swimmer (his 48.2 long course that made a big splash in the summer was his season’s-best by more than two seconds.