German Teenager Johannes Liebmann Rips European Record in 800 Freestyle
Riding the momentum of a victory in the 1500-meter freestyle earlier in the meet, Germany’s Johannes Liebmann registered a European record in the 800 freestyle during Sunday’s final session of the Swim Open Stockholm. After battling countryman Oliver Klemet in the early stages of the race, Liebmann pulled away and covered his 16 laps in 7:37.94, which bettered the previous European record of 7:38.12, set last May by Germany’s Sven Schwarz.
A 19-year-old rising star, Liebmann made noise early in Stockholm when he won the 1500 freestyle in 14:39.67. That mark was a 13-second personal best for the teenager, but it proved to be only an indicator of what was to come. In the 800 freestyle, Liebmann not only logged a European standard, but moved to the No. 6 performer in history. Liebmann’s previous best in the event was
Liebmann opened his Sunday race with a 1:52.42 split at the 200-meter mark and hit the midway point of the race in 3:48.39. At that stage, Klemet was just behind in 3:48.70. But over the back half of the race, Liebmann had too much for his training parter in Magedeburg. At the 600-meter turn, Liebmann was timed in 5:44.19, with Klemet back at 5:46.26. The margin only grew over the closing 200 meters.
Germany now has four athletes who have cracked the 7:40 barrier in the 800 freestyle. While Liebmann leads the way and Schwarz sits second, Lukas Maertens has been 7:39.12 and Florian Wellbrock possesses a best of 7:39.63. The battle for German distance-freestyle surpremacy on the road to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles should be exceptional.
Isabel Gose kept the German roll going in the women’s 800 freestyle, as she completed a distance triple in Stockholm. Already the winner of the 400 freestyle and 1500 freestyle, Gose claimed the 800 free in 8:24.69, a little more than two seconds faster than Australian Moesha Johnson (8:26.89). Gose was joined as a triple winner in the Swedish capital by the Netherlands’ Caspar Corbeau, as he wrapped up his breaststroke sweep. Corbeau’s latest victory arrived in the 50 breaststroke, where he went 27.26.
The title in the women’s 100 breaststroke went to Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova, as she narrowly clipped Poland’s Barbara Mazurkiewicz, 1:07.12 to 1:07.15. Teterevkova trailed by nearly a half-second at the turn, but was much stronger down the last length, as she split 35.09 on her homecoming lap.
Denmark’s Helena Rosendahl Bach had an easy time besting the field in the women’s 200 butterfly, as her time of 2:07.47 was more than six seconds clear of her nearest competitor. In other action, Czechia’s Jan Cejka was the winner of the men’s 200 individual medley in 2:02.14 while Heiko Gigler won the 50 freestyle in 22.25, just .02 ahead of American Brooks Curry, who went 22.04 during prelims.
