After two months in the competition squad, Karl got his first taste of the competitions in Madrid (Benjamin). It was a challenging event, with a grueling schedule: 100m freestyle followed shortly by the 200m breaststroke—a tough combination for any swimmer.
Karl showed a great improvement in the 100m freestyle, clocking 1:30.24 (splits: 0:41.18 and 0:49.06). This marked a significant improvement from his previous 50m result in June (0:44.60), dropping 3.42 seconds over a longer distance.
The 200m breaststroke, held just 25 minutes later, was a surprise. Karl finished in 3:37.99 (splits: 0:49.21, 1:44.11, 2:40.89, 3:37.99), he himself forecasted something around 3:40-3:50. Despite the limited recovery time after the demanding freestyle, he swam a strong race, almost making the earlier sprint time of 0:48.60 in the first split.
Next month, Karl will tackle the backstroke, his weakest stroke at the moment. The good thing, there’s plenty of room for improvement.