Olympic champion swimmer Lukas Martens sets world record in men's 400m freestyle

Olympic champion Lukas Martens of Germany has broken the men's 400-metre freestyle record at the Swim Open Stockholm.

German clocks 3:39.96 to break compatriot Paul Biedermann's mark from 2009

A male swimmer takes a breath with the right side of his mouth as he speeds through the water with right arm in the air during a freestyle race.
Germany's Lukas Martens, pictured at Paris 2024, became the first swimmer to break the three minute 40 seconds barrier on Saturday at the Swim Open Stockholm. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

Olympic champion Lukas Martens of Germany has broken the men's 400-metre freestyle record at the Swim Open Stockholm.

Martens became the first swimmer to break the three minute 40 seconds barrier, finishing Saturday's race with a time of 3:39.96.

That was 0.11 seconds better than the previous record set by fellow German Paul Biedermann in 2009, according to Olympics.com.

Biedermann's mark had been set wearing the drag-reducing "super suits" that were eventually banned in 2010.

The 23-year-old Martens won the 400m freestyle gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a time of 3:41.78.

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