Angelina Köhler shines at the European Short Track Championships
The top swimmers forgo the "turning carousel" on the 25-meter lane. This gives the second tier the chance to shine at the European Short Course Championships. Angelina Köhler makes the most of this and wins two medals.
The record lasted less than 24 hours. Angelina Köhler swam faster than any German before her in the 100-metre butterfly final, but it wasn't quite enough for her second European Championship gold. "It was a really cool race, I'm super happy with my time," said the 23-year-old nonetheless: "Two medals at the European Championships - it couldn't have gone better."
In the absence of the top swimmers around Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock, Köhler provided the German highlights at the European Short Course Championships in Romania. Two days after her surprising triumph in the 200 meters, she beat the German record, which she had only set the previous evening, by another 26 hundredths in 55.50 seconds. This time it was silver because the Swedish European long course champion was 13 hundredths faster - especially under water.
"Angelina already had the highest speed at the World Championships in Japan, but lost time in the turns and in the diving phases," said Director of Competitive Sports Christian Hansmann from the German Swimming Association (DSV), "she has worked a lot on that, it looks good now." Köhler had already shone in the summer in Fukuoka as fifth at the World Championships in the 50-meter pool with a German record, and now the runner-up at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games has won her first "big" international medals.
"This is a really big step for her," said Hansmann, "she has to take the momentum with her to the Olympic Games." However, the performance sports director does not yet want to count the new Berliner among the medal hopes in Paris (July 26 to August 11, 2024): "The final is the goal."
While Wellbrock and Co. skipped the European Short Track Championships in the Bucharest suburb of Otopeni just two months before the Long Track World Championships in Qatar (February 2 to 18, 2024) with a view to the demanding Olympic season, Köhler deliberately took advantage of the "turnaround carousel" in the small pool. Since moving from Hanover to Berlin to join SG Neukölln in July 2022, she has been working intensively on her technique with her coach Lasse Frank - and is now practising it under competition conditions. With success: "We are delighted. She was able to improve again in the final," said Frank: "That makes us want more, we're really looking forward to the long track season, where she has even more strengths."
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In the lead-up to the Long Track World Championships, some top swimmers opted to skip the European Short Track Championships. This opened up opportunities for others to showcase their skills, such as Angelina Köhler, who made a strong impression and added two more medals to her collection at the European Championships.
Seizing the chance presented by the absence of the top swimmers, Angelina Köhler honed her technique in the smaller pool, eagerly preparing for the forthcoming Long Track World Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games.
Source: www.ntv.de
