Swimming World Championships: Lukas Märtens wins gold in the 400 meters

Olympic swimming champion Lukas Märtens is the world champion in the 400-meter freestyle. The 23-year-old finished in Singapore in 3:42.35 minutes, beating second-placed Samuel Short of Australia. South Korea's Kim Woomin secured bronze. The second German finalist, Oliver Klemet, swam to eighth place.

Märtens demonstrated his exceptional skills right on the first day of the pool competitions at the championships in Southeast Asia. For the exceptional swimmer, who trains in Magdeburg with national coach Bernd Berkhahn, this is the first World Championship title of his career. Märtens won silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023 and 2024. Now, exactly one year to the day after his Olympic victory in the La Défense Arena, he reached his next career milestone with the gold medal at the World Championships.

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Märtens impressively demonstrated just how good he is this year in April. He beat Paul Biedermann's 16-year-old world record in the 400-meter freestyle in 3:39.96 minutes—and he did it without any special preparation.

His extended break after the Summer Games, with numerous appointments and two nose surgeries, didn't throw him off track, even though returning wasn't easy. "That also has a bit to do with motivation," he says. Märtens had to set new goals for himself, "because when you're an Olympic champion at 22, you've basically already achieved almost everything on paper."

One of these new goals was the World Championship title. Achieving this right at the start of the pool races in Singapore, despite health problems during preparation, provides additional confidence.

Märtens still has a lot to do in the World Championships Arena. He's also one of the favorites in the 800-meter freestyle. Only his national teammate Sven Schwarz has been faster than Märtens on this course so far this year.