Hats off to Martin Espernberger! The Linz native, who made the leap to the USA five years ago, where he now swims for the University of Tennessee, is in the Olympic final of the 200 meter butterfly. The electrical engineering student turned on the turbo in the finish of his semifinal and made it to the showdown on Wednesday (8.36 p.m., ORF 1) in eighth place overall. Espernberger achieved a personal best of 1:54.62 minutes, not far off the national record set by Dinko Jukic (1:54.35). “It’s amazing! It’s great that it was enough for the top eight. I really gave it my all,” said the athlete.
Looking at the Vidiwall with the results was not for the faint of heart. In the final reckoning, Espernberger, who had maneuvered himself into the spotlight with World Championship bronze in 2023, beat ninth-placed Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski by a mere two hundredths of a second.
The clear number 1 was the Hungarian Kristof Milak (1:52.72), the world record holder, like Espernberger, had competed in the second heat. “It’s cool to swim next to the world record holder. But I concentrated on my race. It’s great that it worked out like that,” said a delighted Espernberger.
