Paul Biedermann

Paul Biedermann (born 7 August 1986) is a German retired competitive swimmer, a 400 metre freestyle long course world champion, and former 200 metre freestyle long course world champion. He holds the long course and short course world records in the 200 meters freestyle, and the long course world record in the 400 meters freestyle.

Paul Biedermann
Biedermann in Netanya, Israel, 2015
Personal information
Full namePaul Biedermann
Nickname(s)"Superman"
National team Germany
Born (1986-08-07) 7 August 1986
Halle, East Germany
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight93 kg (205 lb)
WebsitePaul-Biedermann.de
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
ClubSV Halle
CoachFrank Embacher[1]

Career

In 2008, Biedermann was ranked 9th in the world in the 200 m freestyle and 21st in the world in the 400 m freestyle.[2] He won the 200 m freestyle long course at the 2008 European Aquatics Championships final, finishing in a time of 1:46.59. His times for the 400 m freestyle (3:47.69) and 200 m freestyle (NR in 1:46.37) qualified him for the Olympic Games in Beijing. At the Olympics, he placed fifth in the 200 m freestyle final (1:46.00) and 17th overall in the 400 m freestyle (3:48.03).

2009 Long Course and 2010 Short Course World Championships
See also: Swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships

On 26 July 2009, Biedermann won the 400 m freestyle final at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships. He passed 1500 m Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli in the final 50 metres and finished with a time of 3:40.07, shaving nearly three seconds off his own personal best and bettering Ian Thorpe's 2002 world record by one-hundredth of a second.[3] On 28 July, he claimed his second gold of the meet in the 200 m freestyle, defeating Michael Phelps in a world record time of 1:42.00 and cutting more than four seconds off of his time since last year.[4] Many criticise the authenticity of Biedermann's world records in the 200m and 400m freestyle, as they were swum with the now banned "super-suits," such as the LZR Racer, that were proven to give an unfair advantage particularly over the longer distance freestyle races.

In the 2010 Short Course Worlds, Biedermann won gold in the 400 m freestyle, beating Oussama Mellouli again in a race that unfolded almost identically to their race in Rome the previous year. In the 200 m freestyle, although he was the world record holder, he only placed 5th. He was over a second behind the first-place finisher Ryan Lochte.

2011 Long Course World Championships

Biedermann collected bronze medals in the 200 m freestyle, 400 m freestyle, and 4 × 100 m medley relay, as well as finishing 4th in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He was out-touched by Michael Phelps by 0.09 seconds in the individual 200 m freestyle. However, Biedermann got the better of Phelps in the relay lead-off leg by beating him by 0.33 seconds.

2012 Summer Olympics

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 200 m freestyle, finishing 5th (0.6 seconds from a medal);[5] the 400 m freestyle; and the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay as a member of the German team that finished 4th.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 200 m freestyle where he finished in 6th place.[6] He also competed as part of the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay team which finished in 6th place.[7] Following the games, he announced his retirement from competitive swimming.

Personal bests
  • 200 m freestyle: 1:42.00 (28 July 2009) WR
  • 400 m freestyle: 3:40.07 (26 July 2009) WR
gollark: Well, yes.
gollark: Great!
gollark: It's unfair because the cards cost money.
gollark: STEP has a range of different tricky questions and you pick your favourite ones to do over the exam.
gollark: ddg! Lagrange optimisation

See also

References
  1. Lord, Craig (3 December 2015). "Marco Koch Scares WR After German Mate Paul Biedermann's Golden S/C Swansong". Swimvortex. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. Amy Shipley (29 July 2009). "At Worlds, 'It's Not About the Swimmer'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
  3. Meadows, Mark (26 July 2009). "Biedermann smashes 400 freestyle world record". Reuters.com. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  4. "Brilliant Biedermann beats Phelps". BBC Sport. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  5. "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle Final". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  6. "Men's 200m Freestyle". Rio2016.com. Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  7. "Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay". Rio2016.com. Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
Records
Preceded by
Ian Thorpe		 Men's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (short course)
15 November 2008 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Ian Thorpe		 Men's 400 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
26 July 2009 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Michael Phelps		 Men's 200 metre freestyle
world record holder (long course)
28 July 2009 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Grant Hackett		 Men's 400 metre freestyle
world record holder (short course)
24 November 2009 – 15 November 2012		 Succeeded by
Yannick Agnel
Awards
Preceded by
Alain Bernard		 European Swimmer of the Year
2009		 Succeeded by
Camille Lacourt
Preceded by
Matthias Steiner		 German Sportsman of the Year
2009		 Succeeded by
Sebastian Vettel
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