Lukas Märtens wins bronze over 400 m freestyle at the swimming World Cup in Fukuoka.

Lukas Märtens wins bronze over 400 m freestyle at the swimming World Cup in Fukuoka.

swimmer Lukas Märtens wins bronze at the World Cup in Fukuoka

The 21-year-old swimmer Lukas Märtens gave the German swimmers the first medal at the World Cup in Fukuoka, Japan. The European champion secured bronze over 400 m freestyle. Märtens struck third in the final after 3: 42.20 minutes and thus qualified prematurely for the Olympic Games in Paris. Although he was satisfied with his place, he had hoped for a little more of his time.

Shortly after Märtens' success, European champion Isabel Gose missed a medal over the same route. The 21-year-old struck as a seventh after 4: 05.27 minutes. The Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus secured first place with a world record. Gose was disappointed with her result and admitted that not everything went optimally.

German swimmers were also able to record success in other disciplines. Isabel Gose improved her own German record over 400 m freestyle by 19 hundredths of a second to 4: 03.02 minutes. Lucas Matzerath cracked the two -year -old German record over 100 m chest and qualified for the final. Angelina Köhler reached the third fastest time in the lead and moved into the final.

Unfortunately, the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay narrowly missed the finale. Oliver Klemet, WM press in the open water over 10 km, and other German swimmers could not qualify for the next round.

The German swimmers have shown their good shape at the World Cup and further successes are to be expected.