FLASH! Sven Schwarz Takes Down European 800 Free Record; Lowers Daniel Wiffen’s Standard
Sven Schwarz set a European 800m freestyle record of 7:38.12 at the German Championships in Berlin as he overhauled the previous standard set by Daniel Wiffen.
Schwarz sliced 0.07 from Wiffen’s time of 7:38.19 en-route to gold at Paris 2024 and elevated himself to fifth all-time with the fifth-fastest performance, topped by Zhang Lin’s eye-watering 7:32.12 WR from the 2009 World Championships.
Zhang and Oussama Mellouli (7:35.27) fill the top two slots all-time with their performances coming at the peak of the supersuited era. Next in the rankings comes Ahmed Hafnaoui’s 7:37.00 as he secured gold at the 2023 worlds with the Tunisian currently serving a 21-month ban for three whereabouts failures. Sam Short (7:37.76) and Schwarz are now second and third quickest all-time in textile.
He took almost a second off Lukas Märtens‘ German record of 7:39.10 at last month’s Swim Open Stockholm. It was a huge PB for the 23-year-old whose previous best of 7:41.77 was set as he claimed gold at the European U23 Championships in Dublin in 2023.
Schwarz and Märtens head to the World Championships in Singapore as the fifth and 11th fastest man over 16 lengths in history.
Florian Wellbrock took second in 7:43.79 with Oliver Klemet third in 7:44.61.
It was another storming performance from the Magdeburg powerhouse where Schwarz trains alongside Märtens, Wellbrock and Klemet under the watchful eye of Bernd Berkhahn.
Schwarz – who was fifth in Paris and fourth at the 2024 worlds in Doha – said through the German federation: “I just tried to see what I could do at the front. It felt good. It slid really well and I don’t know why. It seems to have been the perfect day somehow. It makes me mega proud and mega happy that I have fought for the World Championship ticket.”
“If you want to swim fast times, you have to be brave – and Sven was definitely that today,” said Märtens, who last month set the 400 free WR with the German men looking ominous in the middle to distance events.
Top 5 Performers All-Time
7:32.12: Zhang Lin, 2009 World Championships
7:35.27: Oussama Mellouli, 2009 World Championships
7:37.00: Ahmed Hafnaoui, 2023 World Championships
7:37.76: Sam Short, 2023 World Championships
7:38.12: Sven Schwarz, 2025 German Championships