Isabel Gose Soars To Top Of 400 & 1500 Free S/C Rankings; Seventh Heaven For Chad Le Clos
Isabel Gose, Sven Schwarz and Angelina Kohler all commanded the spotlight at the German Short-Course Championships in Wuppertal.
There were also seven golds – five of them in individual events – for Chad Le Clos at the four-day meet which doubled as selection for the European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania, from 5-10 December.
Gose surged to the top of the 2023 s/c 1500 rankings in 15:25.50, almost eight seconds quicker than previous incumbent Anastasia Kirpichnikova who clocked 15:33.42 at the French trials.
Such was Gose’s dominance that she finished 45secs ahead of Julia Ackermann who clocked 16:11.94 in second.
The European champion then became the only woman inside 4mins in the short-course pool over 400m this year in 3:59.72.
Chad Le Clos: Photo Courtesy: Anton Geyser/SouthAfricanSportsImages
Kohler won the butterfly treble with the second fastest times in the world this year over 50 (25.70), 100 (57.22), and 200 (2:06.47) in which Alina Baievych set a 14-yrs age group record of 2:07.39.
The 23-year-old also won the 50 free in 24.05 while taking 50 back silver.
Two-time European short-course medallist Schwarz opened his golden account in the 800 free, winning in 7:34.05 ahead of Florian Wellbrock (7:36.93), following it up with 3:42.90 in the 400.
Schwarz stands third in the 800 rankings, topped by Dan Wiffen‘s 7:30.06 from the BUCS meet at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, over the weekend.
Le Clos will have to find some space in his trophy cabinet after taking home armfuls of golds after sweeping the 50-10-200 free in 21.53, 47.29 and 1:44.36.
He also won the 50 and 100 fly in 22.48 and 50.18 respectively as well as being part of the SG Frankfurt’s winning relays in the men’s 4×50 free and medley.
Lucas Matzerath won the 50 and 100 breaststroke with Marco Koch taking the 200 while Christian Diener took the 100/200 back.
