Thomas Lurz

Thomas Lurz
Thomas Lurz in Denmark, 2009
Personal information
Surname:	Thomas Lurz
Nation:	Germany
Swimming style (s) :	Freestyle
Society:	SV Würzburg 05
Birthday:	28th November 1979 (age 40)
Place of birth:	Wurzburg
Size:	1.83 m
Weight:	76 kg
Medal table

Thomas Lurz (born November 28, 1979 in Würzburg ) is a former German open water swimmer . Lurz is the most successful German swimmer at world championships with a total of twelve titles won. He is also the most successful participant in open water world championships .

Career

Thomas Lurz lives in Gerbrunn and started for SV Würzburg 05 . He is a soldier in the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr in Warendorf in the current rank of corporal corporal . Lurz was trained by his brother Stefan, who married Annika Liebs , a swimmer who also started for SVW 05 in 2006 .

While participating in the Universiade in Bangkok, Thomas Lurz learned of the death of his father Peter Lurz. He died of heart failure on August 12, 2007 while cycling in the Rhön.

Thomas Lurz graduated from the Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences with a degree in social education (FH). At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , he took third place in the first ever 10 km marathon swimming.

In summer 2012 Thomas Lurz published his first book “Swim on the wave of success”. In 2012 Thomas Lurz founded the "Thomas Lurz and Dieter Schneider Sports Foundation" for the benefit of athletes with handicaps. In September 2013, the “No Limits” event, which the foundation brought into being, took place in Würzburg for the first time.

Thomas Lurz is a lecturer at the University of Würzburg and a member of the Rotary Club . Since January 2013 he has been working for s.Oliver in international personnel development and since 2017 Lurz has been in business development. In addition, Lurz successfully completed a Master of Business Administration General Management at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management in September 2017 . He has been president of the Würzburg 05 swimming club since January 2016 and has also been a member of the board of the Würzburg Future Foundation since July 2018 . Thomas Lurz has been with s.Oliver since September 2019 .

Swimming career

Thomas Lurz's special disciplines were the long freestyle courses , especially open water swimming. Like Larissa Iltschenko , the most successful woman at open water world championships, he specialized in the distances of 5 and 10 km.

Nationally, Lurz won the 1500 meter title on the short course for the first time in 1998. In 2001 he won the first national title on the 5 km course and took part in a world championship and a Universiade for the first time.

National titles over 1500 meters on the short course, as well as over 5 and 10 km were added in 2002. He became vice European champion over 5 km and fourth over 10 km. A fifth place in the 1500 meter freestyle was added to the short course European championships. He won his first World Championship medal in 2002 as third place in Egypt over 5 km, and he just missed another medal over 10 km in fourth.

In 2003 Lurz won the 800 and 1500 m freestyle titles on the long and 1500 m on the short course. At the European Short Track Championships, he missed a medal in the 1500 m in fourth.

2004 Summer Olympics

Lurz achieved his final international breakthrough in 2004. Lurz won the world championship title on the 10 km course in Dubai , over 5 km he once again missed a medal in fourth place. In addition, there were again the German titles over 800 and 1500 m freestyle on the long track. The highlight of the year was participation in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens , where Gerbrunner finished 22nd in the 1500 m freestyle. Lurz was Würzburg Sportsman of the Year in 2004.

Lurz won the 5 km title at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal and was runner-up in the 10 km course. Silver was added to the 1500 m freestyle at the Universiade in Izmir . He won the European Cup in open water and won four 10 km races. He was German champion again over 5 km, runner-up over 800 and 1500 m freestyle. In 2005 Lurz was also named Open Water Swimmer of the Year .

In 2006 Lurz won the titles over 5 and 10 km at both the World Championships in Naples and the European Championships in Budapest . He won nationally over the long distances as well as over 1500 m freestyle and at the winter championships over 1500 and 800 m. He set a new German record in the 800 m freestyle in 7: 51.59 minutes. Lurz was again Open Water Swimmer of the Year and Würzburg Sportsman of the Year.

At the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne , Lurz again won the 5 km title and came second on the double track. He won a World Cup race of the season as well as two European Cup races. He was able to win five national titles, on both open water long distances, over 1500 m freestyle on short and long courses and over 800 m on long courses. At the end of the season he was voted Europe's open water swimmer of the year.

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 season brought not only the renewed participation in the Olympic Games by winning the bronze medal over 10 km, but again winning the title over 5 km at the World Championships in Seville and over 10 km at the European Championships in Dubrovnik . In the other long distance, he won bronze in both championships. Lurz won world cup races and a European cup race in Dubai and Cancún . Nationally, they also won the German championship title over 5 km. He was awarded Adh University Sportsman of the Year, DSV Swimmer of the Year, Sportsman of the Year in Würzburg and as a medalist at the Olympics with the silver laurel leaf .

Thomas Lurz 50 m before his 10 km World Cup victory in Copenhagen in 2009

The successes continued in 2009 as well, Lurz won the national championships over 5 and 10 km and a world cup race over 10 km in Setúbal . At the World Championships in Rome in 2009 Lurz once again won the world championship title over 5 and 10 km. There were also nine World Cup victories (Varna, Copenhagen, New York, Annecy, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shantou, Qiandao) and winning the overall World Cup. He also won the Fina Grand Prix final over 15 km in Abu Dhabi.

At the 2010 European Swimming Championships in Budapest, he won the 10 km title, and in Roberval he won the 5 km.

In April 2011, Thomas Lurz won the opening competition of the endurance world cup over the 10 km distance in Santos (Brazil). In May 2011, he finished second in the second World Cup race in Cancún (Mexico) behind his team-mate Andreas Waschburger from Saarbrücken. At the World Championships in Shanghai he won the silver medal over 10 km behind Spyros Gianniotis . In addition, his 10th world title was added and he won the 5 km for the seventh time in a row. He completed the set of medals in the team race over 5 km and won the bronze medal with Jan Wolfgarten and Isabell Haerle. At the European Championships in Eilat (ISR), Thomas Lurz won the 10 km for the fourth time in a row and became European Champion. Lurz also won the Fina Overall World Cup 2011 over 10 km with victories in Shantou and Hong Kong.

2012 Summer Olympics

With a silver medal, he was the only German swimmer to win a medal at the Olympic Games in London.

In 2013 Thomas Lurz again won two world championship titles in Barcelona over the 25 km and in the 5 km team event. This makes Thomas Lurz the first swimmer in the world to win all open water disciplines. Thomas Lurz swum the 25 km for the first time in his career and was able to win straight away. In addition, he was runner-up in the world championship over 10 km and a bronze medal over 5 km. Thomas Lurz also won the Fina Overall World Cup in 2013 and was able to win the races in Lac Megantic (CAN) and Shantou (CHN). In 2013 he was elected European Swimmer of the Year Open Water for the fifth time .

On May 1, 2015, the 35-year-old surprisingly announced that he would end his career as an open water swimmer with immediate effect.

Track record

Championships

• Olympic Games :
  • Participation in Athens in 2004
  • 2008 bronze medal in Beijing
  • Silver medal 2012 in London
• Twelve titles at world championships , plus three silver and three bronze medals
• Five titles at European championships, once vice European champion
• 26 titles at German championships (pool and open water) over 800, 1500, 5000 and 10,000 m freestyle

More medals and titles

• Silver medal Universiade 2005 Izmir
• European Cup winner Freiwasser 2005

Awards

• Open water swimmers in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013
• Europe's long-distance swimmer of the year 2007, 2009
• FINA World Athletes of the Year (Water Polo): 2011
• Bavarian Constitutional Medal in Silver: 2015
• " Role model in sport ", additional award within the scope of the award for the athlete of the year 2015

Web links

Commons : Thomas Lurz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official homepage of Thomas Lurz
• Homepage of his home association
• dsv results ( memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Thomas Lurz in the database of Swimrankings.net (English)
• Thomas Lurz in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In terms of the total number of titles won at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships, Kristin Otto with a total of 22 titles and Michael Groß with 21 titles are the most successful German swimming athletes to date.
2. ↑ Thomas Lurz's successes on his website
3. ↑ Swimming on Sports 123 (English)
4. ↑ Thomas Lurz's biography on his website
5. ↑ Portrait: Swimming - Thomas Lurz
6. ^ Spiegel Online : European Swimming Championships: Lurz wins gold over ten kilometers , August 4, 2010
7. ↑ Thomas Lurz wins World Cup opener
8. ↑ Double victory in Cancun: Waschburger defeats Lurz.
9. ↑ Swimming: record world champion Lurz ends career (May 1, 2015)
10. ↑ Swimming World's - WORLD SWIMMERS OF THE YEAR
11. ↑ Swimming World Names 2009 Open Water Swimmers of the Year ( Memento of the original from April 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (November 25, 2009)