Anna Elendt left out a possible triple.

After the swimmer of SG Frankfurt had already won two championship titles with German records two days in a row at the national championships in Berlin, she signed off for the final over 200 meters chest on Sunday.

The 19-year-old had won the lead over the longest stretch of her favorite location in 2: 26.89 minutes, which was only a few hundredths above her personal best.

The Hessin, who is studying in the USA, had improved the German record in the so-called “Finals” during these championship fights, both over 50 and 100 meters, and thus gave those responsible in the German Swimming Association food for thought. Because officially, after the result of the trials, the 2019 World Championship finalist is qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, but only for the tier relay there.

The increase in performance was not foreseeable. Elendt had, as she explained, changed her racing tactics again and practiced her own style much more than before at home. But Elendt had renounced so-called tapering. So, to shut down your training, as usual before important competitions. But for them, as for most other swimmers, the national championships were more of a show for television, because their peak should be reached in the Olympic qualifications and the games themselves.

The young woman from Dreieich-Götzenhain was all the more astonished at her speed.

On Friday she surfaced after 100 meters with a time of 1: 06.50 minutes and thus undercut Sarah Poewe's twelve-year-old record by half a second.

One day later she sprinted the non-Olympic 50 meter chest in 30.67 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the previous record holders Kerstin Vogel and Dorothea Brandt.

Both times the winner looked at the scoreboard in complete disbelief after her races.

Daily competitions in a holiday mood

Elendt, who had already predicted a great future for her former coach Alexander Kreisel in Darmstadt, knows that she owes this remarkable upward trend to her courageous leap overseas immediately after graduating from high school. "Before the USA, I would not have even come close to these times, and now I have swum two German records in a row," she stated less than a year after moving to the University of Texas in Austin. As a scholarship holder, she enjoys optimal conditions for her sport there. In the midst of 20 other strong swimmers, there is “battling” with motivating music on the edge of the pool and often bright sunshine during every unit. Daily competitions in a holiday mood, that's how you can imagine. The distances on campus, where Elendt lives, are short,The support is also optimal outside of the training units, for example in the medical field.

Under her trainer Carol Capitani, who once coached Rebecca Soni to win Olympic gold, the German guest student learned a different rhythm of arm pull and leg kick at an early stage. So she can be faster with less effort, as she says. The stress that arises from sliding through the pelvis at lightning speed is better for her. Rest is therefore not on her plan for the time being. “I'll start training again on Monday or Tuesday,” emphasized Elendt. "It will be pulled through to Tokyo."