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| photo source=German Swimming Federation |
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| photo source=German Swimming Federation |
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The wall of 3 minutes and 40 seconds, which was unlikely to break in the men's 400m freestyle, was finally broken. As G-Dragon said, there is never an eternal.
Germany's new 400-meter freestyle record of 3:40:07 set by Paul Wiedermann, 39, wearing a full-length swimsuit at the 2009 Rome World Championships was finally broken by Germany's Shin Seong, who was born in 2001. Lucas Mertens broke the world record by shooting a touchpad with a time of 3:39.96 at the Stockholm Open on the 13th (Korea time). He roared hot, advancing the previous record by 0.11 seconds.
Mertens is a well-known athlete even among domestic swimming fans. Kim Woo-min of last year's Paris Olympics was the gold medalist when he won the first medal and bronze medal in this event in 12 years since Park Tae-hwan. Mertens, like the Olympic gold medal (3:41.78), pushed the beginning to a strong pace after his first start. He ran the first 200 meters with a time of 1:47.55 to lead Wiedermann's world record by a whopping 3.5 seconds. foretold the best moment. When he set his own record of 3:40:33, he was more than a second ahead of his 200m record of 1:48:59. His 200m record was 1:52.41 in the second half, which was 3:36 behind Wiedermann's 1:49.05, but his early pace was so overwhelming that he could set a new record.
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| photo source=German Swimming Federation |
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| photo source=German Swimming Federation |
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Mertens' new record is significant not only in breaking a long 16-year-old record, but also in breaking the world record in the era of full-body swimsuits, which is now banned. In 2009 alone, when full-body swimsuits were allowed to drastically reduce air resistance, 67 world records poured out, and Wiedermann also set a world record with an overwhelming record. Since then, Wiedermann's record in the 400m freestyle and his unattainable attempt to break the 40-second wall have ended in nothing, and it has been recognized as an impregnable barrier. Park Tae-hwan, who recorded 3:41:53, the world's top 10 record in the 400m freestyle, and the world's unbreakable record holder for the 15th year, continued to race the record tens of thousands ofm throughout his career.
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| 출처=스윔스왬 |
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In April 2026, Mertens finally broke the barrier in Stockholm, Sweden. Wiedermann, from Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, sent a congratulatory message to his junior Mertens on social media 'from Grandeburg, Saxony-Anhalt. "Congratulations. It's an amazing record. I'm really happy that the record will be left in Saxony-Anhalt (Germany)," he said, rejoicing at the feat of his hometown junior.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji, sky4us@sportschosun.com ,
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
