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 name	Paul Biedermann
Nickname(s)	"Superman"
National team	Germany
Born	7 August 1986 Halle, East Germany
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	93 kg (205 lb)
Website	Paul-Biedermann.de
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
Club	SV Halle
Coach	Frank Embacher[1]
Medal record Men's swimming Representing Germany World Championships (LC) 2009 Rome 200 m freestyle 2009 Rome 400 m freestyle 2009 Rome 4×100 m medley 2011 Shanghai 200 m freestyle 2011 Shanghai 400 m freestyle 2011 Shanghai 4×100 m medley 2015 Kazan 200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) 2010 Dubai 400 m freestyle 2012 Istanbul 400 m freestyle 2012 Istanbul 200 m freestyle 2012 Istanbul 4×200 m freestyle European Championships (LC) 2008 Eindhoven 200 m freestyle 2010 Budapest 200 m freestyle 2012 Debrecen 200 m freestyle 2012 Debrecen 400 m freestyle 2012 Debrecen 4×200 m freestyle 2014 Berlin 4×200 m freestyle 2010 Budapest 400 m freestyle 2010 Budapest 4×200 m freestyle 2014 Berlin 200 m freestyle European Championships (SC) 2008 Rijeka 400 m freestyle 2009 Istanbul 200 m freestyle 2009 Istanbul 400 m freestyle 2010 Eindhoven 400 m freestyle 2011 Szczecin 200 m freestyle 2011 Szczecin 400 m freestyle 2015 Netanya 200 m freestyle 2007 Debrecen 200 m freestyle 2007 Debrecen 400 m freestyle 2010 Eindhoven 200 m freestyle 2015 Netanya 400 m freestyle 2005 Trieste 400 m freestyle

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

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

See also

• World record progression 200 metres freestyle
• World record progression 400 metres freestyle

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.

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Results from DSV (in German) at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-09-28)
• Paul Biedermann at Swimrankings.net
• Profile at i-swimmer.ru (in Russian)
• Paul Biedermann at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Paul Biedermann at the International Olympic Committee
• Paul Biedermann at the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund (in German)