After the DLRG national team finished the lifesaving world championships on the Gold Coast in fifth place, the club world championships were held at the same location. 137 club teams took part and looked for the world’s best club team in four categories; two teams from Saxony-Anhalt were there – the DLRG Magdeburg and the DLRG Halle-Saalekreis. For Undine Lauerwald and Lena Oppermann from the DLRG Halle-Saalekreis, the competitions were a particular challenge, as they already had a number of competitions under their belts. “After five exhausting days of competition with the national team, focusing on the club competitions is not so easy,” says team manager Holger Friedrich, who, after looking after the national team, also managed the Halle-Saalekreis club team. Another seven days of competition were completed, four in the swimming pool and three in open water.
“They prepared very professionally for the championships, which made them an absolute success for both of them!”, said Friedrich happily. While Lauerwald was preparing in the Bundeswehr’s sports promotion group with coach Urs Schirbel, Oppermann was training at the federal base in Halle. Coach Daniel Gätzschmann’s protégé had already won six medals at the national competitions. At the club competitions, Oppermann collected an incredible six medals (1 x gold, 3 x silver, 2 x bronze). The highlight was certainly her victory in the 50 meter rescue sprint. She also won two individual silver medals (100 meter rescue with fins/100 meter combined rescue exercise) and three relay medals. Undine Lauerwald had won four medals for the national team. She managed to add five more medals at the club competitions, even though things were not going so well in the rescue with fins discipline. Having started as the World Games winner, she ended up in a disappointing fourth place. “I didn’t get off to a good start in the race and somehow I lacked the stamina in the final meters,” said Lauerwald after the final. Her teammate Johanna Seilner caused a surprise. With a new personal best, she moved up to third place behind Oppermann and ahead of Lauerwald. This put three women from Halle in the top 4 in the world. Gina Zech also reached the B final, which was also very important for the DLRG Halle-Saalekreis’s points tally. Lauerwald was then able to score two individual medals (1 x silver/1 x bronze) in the super lifesaver and in rescue with a belt. With Oppermann, Zech and Seilner she also won a silver and a bronze medal in the women’s relay. At the end of the swimming pool competitions, the men from Halle were also able to get involved in the medal fight. In the final mixed relay, Lauerwald and Oppermann were joined by Paul Wohlers and Felix Hofmann; they secured bronze in an exciting duel with the Australian team Currumbin Beach Vikings. “Our men from Halle did very well; after all, we have to cope with a major upheaval after the retirement of Perling and Ende,” said coach Gätzschmann, as the Halle team also included juniors such as Fabian Herrmann and Florian Leineweber, who had already been successful this year. “The international endurance test was a very important experience for them,” added Gätzschmann. In the relays in particular, the men were able to keep up with the world’s best from time to time, and the boys narrowly missed out on another medal in the lifeguard relay, finishing fourth.
In total, the DLRG Halle-Saalekreis collected 283 points in the swimming pool, making it the third best club team in the world behind the Italian team Rane Rosse and the favorites Nortcliffe from Australia. Third place in the mixed relay was therefore all the more important, as it meant that the local team from Currumbin was narrowly relegated to fourth place. After the opening first aid competition, in which the Halle team achieved a strong seventh place and third place in the swimming pool competitions, it was time for the open water competitions. “Traditionally, it is very difficult for the Europeans to reach a final in the ocean area, especially as the conditions with high waves and strong currents were very unusual for us this time. We still wanted to use every opportunity and take a point or two for the overall ranking, because there were a handful of teams lurking behind us, mainly Australian ones, who wanted to catch us in the overall ranking,” explained manager Friedrich. In the individual competitions at Kurrawa Beach, the Halle team unfortunately did not manage to make it to a single final. The individual disciplines were dominated by athletes from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. However, in the relays, the Halle-Saalekreis team managed to make it to four finals. They were able to collect at least 14 open water points, which meant 36th place in the open water category. But the one point in the women’s Taplin relay was particularly important. The Australian Currumbin team from the Gold Coast overtook the Halle team on the first open water day, as expected. Three other Australian teams came closer and closer from discipline to discipline, especially the team from Maroochydore. In the end, the team from the Sunshine Coast only managed 307 points and fell just one point short of the DLRG Halle-Saalekreis (308 total points). “We are very happy about third place in the indoor swimming pool ranking and fourth place overall. For us inland people, this is an incredible success,” says Friedrich, summarizing the events.
The ratings at a glance:
- SERC – First Aid Competition
1st place Sunshine Coast Grammar (Australia)
2nd place Currumbin Beach Vikings (Australia)
Platz 3 Singapore Swim Team (Singapur)
7th place DLRG Halle-Saalekreis (Germany)
9th place DLRG Magdeburg (Germany)
- Swimming pool competitions
1st place Rane Rosse (Italy)
2nd place BMD Northcliffe (Australia)
3rd place DLRG Halle-Saalekreis (Germany)
- Open water competitions
1st place BMD Northcliffe (Australia)
2nd place Newport Surf Life Saving (Australia)
3rd place Burleigh Heads Surf Life Saving (Australia)
36th place DLRG Halle-Saalekreis (Germany)
Place 52 DLRG Magdeburg (Germany)
- Overall ranking
1st place BMD Northcliffe (Australia)
2nd place Rane Rosse (Italy)
3rd place Currumbin Beach Vikings (Australia)
4th place DLRG Halle-Saalekreis (Germany)
5th place Maroochydore Surf Life Saving (Australia)
6th place Burleigh Heads Surf Life Saving (Australia)
Photo DLRG
