As a breaststroke swimmer you have to be patient and use the gliding phase to make the best possible progress. This is not easy for someone who is driven by great ambition and who struggles every day to become better. But Lucas Matzerath has seen in recent years that things are steadily improving for him on the quiet path.
At his Olympic debut three years ago, the water sports athlete from SG Frankfurt narrowly failed to make it into the final in his parade 100 meter breaststroke in ninth place. This summer in Paris he wants to do better. The 23-year-old doesn’t officially have the ticket for the trip to France in his pocket yet. Since his appearance at the World Championships in Doha this week, there is little doubt that the athlete, who lives and trains in Bochum, will be in the German squad for the Games again this time.
found a mistake
In all three races in Qatar, Matzerath beat the standard of 59.49 seconds on his main route. The German record holder missed fourth place at the World Championships, which would have been associated with a free ticket to the Seine, by 0.16 seconds in the final, finishing seventh in 59.37. But it is hardly to be expected that two competitors from his own country will swim past him in the qualification phase, which ends with the national title fights in Berlin at the end of April.
“But I don’t want to rely on it,” says the German champion. “And I will continue to train hard.” He would also like to be able to jump into the pool for the 200 meter breaststroke at the La Défense Arena in Nanterre, where the Olympic swimming competitions are held. To do this, he would have to stay under the target time of 2:09.68 minutes as at least the second-best German in the four-week qualification period.
Initially, Matzerath was disappointed that he didn’t finish further ahead in the Persian Gulf. He found the mistake in himself. After his fifth place at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, he really wanted to reach for a medal this time. He got too carried away by the competition, instead of concentrating on his own race, he swam too fast in the first lane instead of keeping his “natural rhythm,” as coach Mark Jayasundara says.
Focus on the weaknesses
The “big, strong moves” became small, fast ones. “I thought I knew better,” admits Matzerath. “But I was too ambitious.” Matzerath didn’t want to speculate about whether the tonsillitis and the flu-like effect from January weakened him. “I’m not one to look for excuses,” he says. Rather, the former Frankfurt boarding school student wants to learn lessons from what he has experienced.
In the next few months, the electrical engineering student, who is in the middle of an exam phase, will focus on his weaknesses. “In the starting area, after 15 meters, I am still behind the others.” In addition to the reaction time, this is mainly due to the effort it takes him to catapult his body 2.01 meters long from the block and in the right direction to make the water slide. “But it’s our turn,” assures Matzerath.
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The small low after the 100 meter decision on Monday was forgotten two days later. In the non-Olympic 50 meter breaststroke, the 2022 European Championship bronze medalist achieved fifth place in the World Cup finals in his fastest race to date of 26.80 seconds. This allows him to finish the title fights “with a good feeling”. A hundredth of a second was missing from the German record set by Melvin Imoudu from Potsdam. “But the season is still long,” says Matzerath. With a little patience the mark will still fall.