Olympics: Swimming: Swimmer Lukas Märtens wins long-awaited gold

When everything was done, Lukas Märtens took a deep breath, again and again, heavily. The German national anthem was playing in the La Defense Arena, and the man from Magdeburg was close to hyperventilating, almost worried that the newly crowned Olympic champion in the 400-meter freestyle swimming would fall off the podium. Finally a few tears ran down his smiling face: Done! Gold, finally!

“It’s just beautiful,” beamed Märtens: “The last few years have been phenomenal, and now the crowning achievement in this really, very difficult year.” The 22-year-old’s start-to-finish victory was 3:41.78 minutes, ahead of Elijah Winnington from Australia and the South Korean Kim Woomin, who, swimming on the outside lane, stayed with the favored German for a surprisingly long time. In the final spurt it was the Australian 2022 world champion, Winnington, who once again came dangerously close to Märtens, who later admitted that he was almost “standing” in the water at the end. But the lead was enough for gold. “Those were the hardest last meters of my life,” said Märtens. »But also the most beautiful ones!«

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It was the first gold medal that was ever awarded in the Paris Basin, the first for the German team at the Games and also the first really big victory for Lukas Märten: for the 1.92 meter tall man who has been playing for a few years is one of the absolute best in the world, Saturday evening was the crowning moment in front of almost 17,000 loud-voiced spectators. After podium finishes at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 World Championships, he finally made it to the highest podium – in the pretty arena in the suburb of Nanterre, where rapper Snoop Dog and Tom Cruise also applauded the US swimmers on Saturday. The swimming-loving Americans celebrated their first gold at the XXXIII Games with the 4×100 meter freestyle relay. Olympics.

The opening evening in the Paris Swimming Temple was also a historic evening for the German Swimming Association. A 36-year gold lull was over. The last gold medal for a man in pool swimming was in 1988 for “Albatross” Michael Groß. At those games in Seoul, Uwe Daßler from ASK Vorwärts Potsdam also won gold for the GDR, in the very 400 meter freestyle that Märtens was now celebrating.

The classic middle distance swimming is obviously a German specialty: Paul Biedermann from Halle holds the world record with 3:40.07 minutes from 2009, swum in the era of the “miracle suits”, which are now no longer approved by the World Swimming Association.

However, Märtens was unable to touch Biedermann’s record in Paris, contrary to some expectations: he arrived as the best in the world for the year, after having been on course for a world record for a long time at the German championships in Berlin in April, but in the end the record was 3:40.33 minutes had narrowly missed. “Many people expected this record to fall,” admitted Märtens. »I don’t give a shit whether it fell or not. I’m at the top and I think I deserve it.”

For the German Olympic team, Märten’s victory meant great relief: the long wait for the first gold, when the public likes to count the days, is already over. “Gold on day one for Team D, that’s a great start to these Olympic Games,” said Thomas Weikert, President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation. “Team D,” as the DOSB delegation is referred to in marketing speak, should be “inspired and motivated” by this.

Lukas Märtens had to get back into the water on Sunday afternoon for the 200 meter freestyle run – a competition in which he thinks he has a chance of winning a medal. He has already fulfilled his big goal and can now swim freely. He will also compete in the 200 meter backstroke and the 4×200 meter freestyle relay is also planned. “I still have a little more to do,” he announced on Saturday evening.