Marco Koch At The Double Through Vortex Of History As 1st German 200 Champion

World S/C Championships

Windsor, Day 3

Men’s 200m breaststroke

Marco Koch became the first German to win the 200m breaststroke crown at World S/C Championships, his 2:01.21 triumph a meet mark that kept at bay Britain’s Andrew Willis, on 2:02.71 for silver.

Where yesterday Koch became the first German winner of the 100m title since Mark Warneke in 1995, today he became a pioneer for his country and the third man ever to win the 100-200 double at the little-pool showcase, after Roman Sloudnov (RUS) in 2000, Brendan Hansen (USA) in 2004.

Marco Koch – by PBK

The bronze in Windsor went to Russian Mikhail Dorinov in 2:03.09, that locking out American teammates Nic Fink, on 2:03.79, and Olympic silver medallist Josh Prenot, on 2:03.96.

Koch, second to Daniel Gyurta in 2014 and a warning of a 2:00.44 in the bag at German Championships last month, went for it from go to gold, leading the way on all eight laps, Willis his constant shadow in second throughout but falling a touch further back with each passing 50 as the German piled on the pressure he was deternined to impose not only on others but himself.

The 2015 World long-course champion, Koch arrived in Rio a gold-medal shot. It all went terribly wrong: he finished 8th and faced questions about his podginess, diet and resolve. The past 48 hours cannot wipe any of that away but Koch will go into 2017 with a smile on his face and a new spirit for the …

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