After silver and bronze, now gold: Isabel Gose is the first to hit the 400 m freestyle. The 20-year-old is thus expanding her series of successes in the title fights. Just minutes later, her friend follows suit – Lukas Märtens also wins the title.
Ban broken – and then twice: The German swimmers get the first two titles at the European Swimming Championships just a few minutes apart. New title holders are Isabel Gose and Lukas Märtens. The two 20-year-olds – privately a couple – won their respective races over 400 m freestyle. Henning Mühlleitner also took bronze.
In the final, Gose beat double European champion Simona Quadarella from Italy after 4:04.13 minutes. “I was hoping for the gold medal so much,” said Gose, who celebrated her greatest success. “I’m relieved but also totally exhausted,” said the woman from Magdeburg, who swam the race from the front and thus dominated the competition.
For Gose this is the third medal after silver over 800 m and bronze over 200 m. Bronze went to Ajna Kesely from Hungary, Julia Mrozinski from Wiesbaden came in eighth in the final. At the World Cup seven weeks ago, Gose was the best European in fifth place. At the Olympics in Tokyo, she finished sixth with a German record (4:03.21).
Märtens was fastest in the men’s race with 3:42.50 minutes ahead of the Swiss Antonio Djakovic and Mühlleitner. The new European champion already has silver over double the distance. At the World Championships a month and a half ago in Budapest, he was decorated with silver over 400 meters.
So far, the German swimmers have won eight European Championship medals from the pool in the Italian capital.
