Brief Biography on Marieke Guehrer:
Nickname: Mariekee, MG, Grrrr
D.O.B: 9/02/86
Born: Adelaide, SA
Lives: Melbourne, VIC
Height: 185cm
Club/Intitute: Melbourne Vicentre VIS
Trans (Pool): MSAC
Coach: Ian Pope
Fiance: Jason D'Cruz (pictured)
Background:
Marieke Guehrer grew up on the Gold Coast and started swimming with Miami Swimming Club under Denis Cotterell at age 9.When her family moved to Brisbane at age 13, she was given the opportunity to swim alongside her role models Susie O’Neill and Samantha Reilly leading into the Sydney Olympics, under the guidance of Scott Volkers. Scott’s assistant coach, Stephan Widmer, took over the squad upon Scott’s retirement and guided Marieke through the age group ranks and onto her first national team in 2004 for the Athens Olympics.
Marieke continued to swim under Stephan until March 2006 when she decided to retire from competitive swimming. After a year off, Marieke returned to the pool, and moved from Brisbane to Melbourne to train with Ian Pope at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre. After only one year back in the pool, Marieke contended the 2008 Olympic trials in Sydney and although failing to qualify for the Olympic Team, came away with her first National Open Title in the 50m butterfly. It was the National Short Course titles in the same year that saw Marieke truly realize the benefits of her comeback, when she won three gold and a bronze, also qualifying her to compete at the FINA World Cup Series. The World Cup Series was a fairytale for Marieke, for as the series progressed, so did she in both times and winnings. Leading the series from start to finish, Marieke was only challenged in the last event of the series in Berlin by Therese Alshammar, the former World Cup champion, when it came down to the very last race of the series – the 50m butterfly. Both girls had much resting on this race, for the winner would come away with US$100,000; fifty thousand more than second-place would receive. Marieke was able to lift to the occasion, winning the race in a world-record time more than 0.3seconds faster than the previous mark. Talk about performing under pressure!
Recent Performances:
The Australian National Titles (World Champs Trials) was the first major event of the 2009 season, and an event that Marieke excelled at. She won the 50m butterfly for the second year in a row, breaking her own Commonwealth Record in the process. Her time of 25.60 put her in the books as third fastest all-time for that event. Her greatest achievement at the trials, however, was swimming a huge personal best time of 54.28 in the final of the 100m freestyle to qualify her for a second swim in Rome in the 100m free, as well as onto the 4x100m freestyle relay at the World Championships. Marieke also came away with a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle behind world record holder Libby Trickett and Olympic medalist Cate Campbell. In the fastest 100m butterfly final in Australian history, Marieke came out 5th with a PB time of 58.08.
The Telstra Skins was a fun event after the Trials in Sydney in March. Marieke finished up the night with a 3rd place overall in the butterfly sprint event and a 2nd place overall in the freestyle sprint event. A mixed medley relay was held at the end of the night, in which Marieke swam backstroke in a new 50m PB of 29.11. The Duel in the Pool in Canberra vs. Japan was the first time for Marieke of this style of racing. The event was held over two nights this time around, as opposed to the normal set-up of one 3-hour event. It was still a grueling competition, however, with Marieke swimming three 100m freestyles on the first night, followed by another 100m freestyle and the 50m freestyle on the second evening. Nevertheless, the competition was fun and Australia ended up winning by a hair from Japan in the overall pointscore!
In May and June Marieke was in Europe racing at the Mare Nostrum grand prix series with a small group from the Australian team. Before the series started, Marieke competed in Portugal at a new competition in Coimbra, which acted as a warm-up meet for the Mare Nostrum. You can view results from Coimbra here. The Mare Nostrum series was a great series of hard racing in Barcelona, Canet then finishing in Monte Carlo. Marieke was happy with her performances overall, posting some decent, consistent times for mid-season racing. You can view all the results from Mare Nostrum here.
In July Marieke contested her first World Championships in Rome, Italy. The competition started with a bang on the first night, with Marieke being a part of the 4x100m Freestyle relay team, in which Australia won a bronze medal. Marieke swam the 2nd leg. Marieke also swam for Australia in the 100m freestyle, posting a personal best time of 54.21 seconds and placing 14th overall. But it was the second last night that was the highlight of the meet for Marieke, her family and her boyfriend, Jason, who were in the grandstands cheering. Marieke surprised everyone, including herself, to claim victory in the 50m butterfly final in a time of 25.48 seconds. Although the time was slower than the world record which was set just the night before, it was good enough to take gold and make Marieke a world champion, and Australia's third and last gold medal winner for the competition. So far, it has been a great year for Marieke! |
