On the first day of German nationals and European Championship trials in Berlin, Yannick Lebherz, 21 and of DSW 1912 Darmstadt, raced in a league of his own to take the 400m medley crown in 4:16.77. More than 2sec ahead after 'fly, he never looked back and was the only swimmer on day one to qualify for the German team. The silver went to Morten Ahme, 19 and of SV Poseidon Hamburg, in 4:24.43, bronze going to Maximilian Krüger, 18 and racing for SV Halle, in 4:28.32.
In a tight race for the podium places, Annika Mehlhorn, of Frankfurt, took the first women's crown, with a 2:14.93 in the 200m medley just ahead of Theresa Michalak, 18 and racing for SV Halle, on 2:15.42, the bronze going to Katharina Schiller, of Waiblingen, on 2:15.44. None qualified for action in Budapest.
In a format that favours weekend TV coverage of finals, many heats are raced in the evening sessions Wednesday to Friday. The 400m free heats saw seven men clock 3:56, with world champion and record holder Paul Biedermann, SV Halle, through in 4th on 3:56.40, lane four going to training partner of his girlfriend Britta Steffen at SG Neukölln, Berlin, Robin Backhaus 0.11sec ahead of the favourite for the crown.
Biedermann needs only a 3:49.42 in the final to qualify for the European showcase in Budapest and the defence of the 400m crown. Head coach Dirk Lange told German media that he had faith in in Biedermann's ability to mainatin his world No 1 status in the 200m and 400m free this year, while Biedermann himself is reported as wanting to leap-frog Yannick Agnel (FRA) at the helm of the 2010 world rankings during trials in Berlin. That should not be too much of a problem, given that Agnel's French record is 4sec slower than Biedermann's world record, albeit one set in a 100% poly suit - allowed in 2009 but now banned - that helped the German set a best time by a sizeable 4sec to get well past Olympic champion Michael Phelps in the water and on the clock. Those races in Rome, after which Biedermann noted that unfairness begat unfairness (Germans were unable to race in the first generation of poly suits and suffered as a result in 2008), helped highlight the mockery that suit wars had made of the sport since February 2008.
Meanwhile, Lange says that Germany is undergoing generation change in the race pool. If Benjamin Starke is absent with shingles, then backstroke aces Helge Meeuw and Thomas Rupprath will also miss Budapest, Meeuw in part because he is studying for medical exams and has been injured of late, while Rupprath is reported to have officially retired.
Lange fears that his relay quartets will not have the strength that they had in former years at the European Championships because of absenteeism and retirement, though Steffen, despite sinus and shoulder problems, has not yet been ruled out of action in Budapest.
Elsewhere on day one in Berlin, Steffen Deibler, Hamburger SC, swam a swift 22.18 to progress at the helm in the 50m free and later in the session was to be found ahead of all other 50 'fly qualifiers, on 23.52; and Dorothea Brandt, SG Neukölln, led the way in the 50m free on 25.05 in the absence of training partner Britta Steffen, who announced her withdrawal from the trials last week after a season in which illness and circumstance have not enabled her to strong more than 10 days of training together.
