Lukas Märtens canceled World Cup start in Budapest due to illness!

Lukas Märtens canceled World Cup start in Budapest due to illness!

Budapest, Ungarn - The dream of another medal in Budapest has shattered abruptly for the Olympic champion Lukas Märtens, who recently won the gold medal over 400 meters freestyle at the Olympic Games in Paris. In the short term, the 22-year-old had to cancel his start at the World Shop Railway Championships due to health problems. "I had a sore throat all night, had to cough and then woke up with body pain," said Märtens. The swimmer, which also wanted to be part of the 4 × 100 meter freestyle relay, saw that it makes no sense under these conditions to start in a competition and started my journey home prematurely, like radiherford.de reported.

Märtens ’challenges and goals

Before the competitions in Budapest, Märtens spoke about his muffled expectations. After completing a nose surgery this year and completing several PR events after his Olympic victory, he had only been back in training for a few weeks. Despite his success, he saw the short railway World Cup more as a "training competition". "My goal is the World Cup on the long train in July in Singapore," he said, in accordance with the responsible persons of the German Swimming Association, who would like to concentrate on the upcoming challenges. The situation for the other German swimmers, such as Isabel Gose and Florian Wellbrock, is more promising. Gose, who won bronze over 1500 meters of freestyle at the Olympic Games, can be found in a strong competition, while Wellbrock wants to commit his chances of medals in various disciplines, such as olympics.com reported.

The short rail World Cup 2024 in Budapest will thus be both an exam and an opportunity for the participants to develop competition hardness and prepare for the international championships in the coming year. The German swimming team is strongly occupied and excited about the upcoming competitions, while Märtens has to concentrate on his recovery in the meantime.