Never before have the swimmers of the SG Frankfurt (SGF) been as successful as they were last year. At world and European championships on the short and long course, they secured five medals alone, with the Olympic champion Chad le Clos from South Africa, who has been training on the Main for almost a year, winning two gold medals in the 100 and 200 meter butterfly in the 25 meter long World Cup pool in Melbourne contributed. Under SGF head coach Dirk Lange, the 31-year-old has found his way back to strong form, excelling over the longer dolphin course in around 1:48.27 minutes with a new best time after missing out at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The top athlete also wants to attack again at the world title fights in Fukuoka, Japan, which begin on July 14th, making a declaration of war with a view to the 2024 games in Paris, where he strives to “be the best version of myself”, as he did with his Change to the Hessians had announced.
On dry land
The German championships this weekend in Berlin are a dress rehearsal for measuring against the international elite. In addition to le Clos, the German short course record holder and world championship runner-up over 100 meters breaststroke, Anna Elendt, will jump into the pool of the hall in the Europasportpark . Before that, both presented themselves on Tuesday at the season press conference in the Römer.
The former world champion over 200 meters breaststroke Marco Koch had to cancel this at short notice due to groin problems; the start of the 33-year-old in the capital seems endangered. “I’m excited to see what comes out at the weekend,” said le Clos. He was surprised that he had already been so fast in the winter, after only a few weeks in the new environment. The pool in Berlin is considered to be one of the fastest in the world, and expectations are correspondingly high, even if the focus of the gold medal winner from London is on the season highlight a few days later.
In order to develop top performances from within your own ranks, sufficiently good training conditions are required early on and over a very long period of time. In Frankfurt, however, there is a lack of water, the SGF and its seven clubs with their more than 7000 members do not know where to accommodate all those who want to learn to swim with them or do it ambitiously. “We don’t have enough indoor pools,” emphasized sports director Michael Ulmer.
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A junior group of the SGF is currently sitting almost on dry land, which recently ensured five precious metals at the German vintage championships. Up until a year ago, the 20 or so students of trainer Christian Schaus practiced in the Bergen-Enkheimer Riedbad, which was then closed for redesign and has not yet reopened. One made do with the fact that one of the performance formations, which have training times in the sports school of the State Sports Association of Hesse, gave one of two lanes to the younger talents.
But the most recent development now requires more space for the individual swimmers, emphasizes Ulmer. “If the planned air dome in the Riedbad is not in place, this group would fall apart.” Boris Zielinski, the managing director of the baths, promised that a short-term solution would be found.
“Then we can close”
One of the consequences of the lack of water is that the masters group of the SGF was dissolved and the young to older swimming seniors, some of whom competed very successfully with others in competitions up to world level, migrated to Eschborn and Gelnhausen. In addition, several clubs in the performance community had to impose an admission freeze for members.
The fact that a competition-oriented 50-meter pool is planned for the new Rebstockbad is seen by Ulmer as a “clear signal” from the city for competitive sports. However, the system should not be available until 2026. In order to continue to be as successful in swimming as it is now, the city is in demand. “If we don’t have water, we can close it,” said Ulmer.
Mayor Mike Josef confirmed: “Success means that we need infrastructure.” The opening of the new family pool on Ratsweg, which will replace the panorama pool, is planned for autumn 2024 To ensure year-round operation of the pools and thus to provide a quick remedy. “We are building new pools while other municipalities are closing theirs,” emphasized Josef, who also works as a sports director. “We hope to be able to continue writing the success story of SG Frankfurt.”
