Germany sends several medal hopefuls to swim in Paris | ABS-CBN News

The German swimming team is looking forward to the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.

Being in great spirits and shape, the team includes several medal hopefuls, currently preparing for the tournament at the Olympic swimming pool in Berlin.

The German Swimming Association (DSV) will have a defending champion in the water - Florian Wellbrock, gold medalist in the 10 km open water swim. The DSV had not been winning international medals for several years, but the reigning champion sees a turnaround in this trend.

“We've always been able to win medals in recent years and this year we have Angelina Koehler, Isabel Gose, Lukas Maertens, myself and hopefully a few others up our sleeve who definitely have what it takes to swim at the forefront of the competition,” says Wellbrock.

The German athlete wants to compete in two disciplines at the Olympics, defending his title in the 10 km open water swim as well as the 1,500 meter swim.

For team colleague Isabel Gose recent competitions are also going swimmingly. Earning four gold medals, she was the most successful athlete at the German national Championships in Berlin. She has already secured three medals at the world championships in Doha, bronze in the 400 and 1500 meters freestyle and even silver in the 800 meters.

Will that be enough for a medal in Paris? Gose says an Olympic medal is definitely a dream of hers and feels optimistic given her recent successes.

Lukas Maertens has already won several world championship medals as well - now he wants to be on the podium at the Olympics. "Well, I'm definitely not going to say I'm going to win the thing, but I think I can confidently say that I'm one of the medal candidates in the 200 and 400 crawl."

He is currently swimming his best performance of the year. Maertens has already made it to an Olympic final once, in Tokyo with the 4x200m relay - now he has his sights set on Paris.

"I think that's what's most important for an athlete," says the swimmer. "Of course, the World Championships and European Championships are all great events, but the Games are above everything else."

After all, the Olympic Games only take place once every four years. "You can surpass yourself there, but you can also, well, I don't know, maybe have a bad or off week." Now it's all about maintaining the top shape he’s in.

For Angelina Koehler, these will be the first Olympics she’s a part of.

"Unfortunately, I missed the Games in Tokyo due to a coronavirus infection, so these are my first Games and I'm probably particularly excited," says Koehler.

She was the first German since 2009 to secure a world championship medal and is a gold medalist in the 100-meter butterfly, earned at the Doha World Championship.

"I'm really looking forward to the Olympic flair, the Olympic Village and the different nations. And it's something really special when all the different sports come together. And I'm just excited to see how it will feel."

But she is also hoping for success: "Of course I'm dreaming of a medal, that's for sure, but let's see, reaching the final is definitely realistic. My time puts me right up there with the front runners."

The Olympic Games will take place in Paris from the 26th of July to the 11th of August. The Olympic flame has already arrived in France.

(Production: Max Schwarz, Susanne Neumayer-Remter, Laura Urraca-Makuch)

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