Märtens loses double Olympic Cup on the last lap
Second Final, Second Medal? This Hope Was Not Fulfilled for Lukas Martens Over 200 Meters Freestyle Despite Long Lead. Neither Did Things Go as Desired for His Teammate Florian Wellbrock in the La Défense Arena.
Completely exhausted, Lukas Martens sat on the floor and had to collect himself first. For the possible second medal story, the swimming Olympic champion had given everything from his body and was even on track for gold for a long time. But he ran out of strength in the final sprint.
"I really wanted to fight with the guys and I fought until the end, unfortunately it didn't result in a medal," said the 22-year-old after finishing fifth in the 200-meter freestyle. "The last lap was simply too slow, I just didn't have the corners." Even the encouragement of his teammate Florian Wellbrock, who also had to cope with a disappointment, did not help.
Martens: "Everything Burned to the Last Fiber"
Martens touched after gold over 400 meters in 1:45.46 minutes. The victory went to David Popovici from Romania. "Everything just hurt, everything burned to the last fiber," said Martens. "I tried to squeeze out everything one more time." He tried to see the big picture shortly after the race. "I have my gold medal and everything else is just a bonus now," said Martens.
He was not the gold favorite, but he went into the competition as a promising medal candidate. Martens had traveled to Paris as the second-best in the world rankings over 200 meters. In the end, he missed bronze and the American Luke Hobson by 67 hundredths of a second. Silver went to Matthew Richards from Great Britain. Martens was still leading at the last turn.
While Martens had already shown at the start of the pool competitions with his outstanding performance in the La Défense Arena what he is capable of, Wellbrock has not yet managed to do so at these Olympic Games. Martens' training partner from Magdeburg failed to qualify for the final in the 800-meter freestyle. The 26-year-old swam a time of 7:47.91 minutes, which was only the twelfth fastest.
Wellbrock with Disappointing Start
Wellbrock has had problems over the second-longest pool distance several times before. Most recently, at the World Championships in February. He is stronger over 1500 meters and in open water. Wellbrock did not show any frustration, he remained cool in the interview zone.
"It doesn't worry me now. We know the game with the 800 meters," said the open water Olympic champion. "I was theoretically not even qualified. Through a lucky coincidence, I got the distance and could use it as an introduction. I believe it was also important for my two top distances that are still coming up." Wellbrock only started because Oliver Klemet gave up his place. "Look ahead. Two races are still coming," said Wellbrock.
Unlike the native Bremen resident, the second German starter was "mega satisfied." Sven Schwarz touched in 7:43.67 minutes and thus qualified as sixth for the final on this Tuesday. Then Martens will also be in action again as part of the 4x200 meter freestyle relay.
Martens expressed his disappointment despite finishing fifth in the 200-meter freestyle, as he aimed for a second medal in the upcoming Olympic Games 2024 in Paris. Despite being the second-best in the world rankings over 200 meters, Wellbrock failed to qualify for the final in the 800-meter freestyle, leaving hope for a potential medal in Paris.
