Steffen Deibler (born 10 July 1987) is a German former competitive swimmer from

Biberach an der Riß Biberach an der Riß (, ; ), often referred to as simply Biberach (), is a town in southern Germany. It is the capital of Biberach (district), Biberach district, in the Upper Swabia region of the German state (Lands of Germany, Land) of Baden-Wü ...

. From 2009 to 2018 he was the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

holder for the 50 m butterfly ( short course).

Swimming career

Deibler specialized in short distances in the

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and freestyle. He graduated in 2007 at Pestalozzi-Gymnasium Biberach and started to study environment engineering in October 2008. As a teenager, Deibler trained at the TG Biberach under coach Gerold Seifert. The study was the reason to change is training base to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. At the 2008 German swimming championships, he won 50 m and 100 m freestyle and qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. He was second behind Paul Biedermann in the 200 m freestyle. In November 2009, Deibler set a new 50 meter

short course

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

, with a time of 22.06, beating the previous record of Amaury Leveaux by 0.12 seconds. At the FINA World Cup 2009 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, he became the first person to swim 50 m butterfly within 22 seconds in a 25 m pool, when he improved his world record to 21.80 seconds. At the

, Deibler finished in 38th, 33rd and 15th place in the 50 m, 100 m, and 4 × 100 m freestyle events. He improved at the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, finishing fourth in the 100 m butterfly and sixth in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, he competed in the 100 m butterfly where he finished 18th in the heats and did not qualify for the semifinals. He also competed as a member of the 4 x 100 m medley relay team that finished in 7th place.

International career

European Junior Swimming Championships The European Junior Swimming Championships (50 m) is an annual swimming competition for European swimmers organized by the Ligue Européenne de Natation and held over five days.

2004 in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

: * 2nd place in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay

2005 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

: * 1st in the 50 m freestyle (0:22.26 min) * 1st in the 100 m freestyle (0:49.26 min) * 1st in the 4 × 100 m freestyle * 1st in the 4 × 100 m

medley swimming Medley swimming is a combination of four different swimming (sport), swimming strokes (Freestyle swimming, freestyle (usually front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, Butterfly stroke, butterfly) into one race. This race is either swum by one sw ...

European Short Course Swimming Championships The European Short Course Swimming Championships, variously referred to informally as the "Short Course Europeans" or "European 25m Championships", are a swimming meet, organized by LEN. The meet features swimmers from Europe, competing in event ...

2005 in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

: * 1st in the 4×50 m medley swimming * 2nd in the 100 m freestyle 0:47.43 min) * 4th in the 50 m freestyle (0:21.56 min)

2007 in

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

: * 1st in the 4×50 m medley swimming * 3rd in the 4×50m freestyle German swimming championships 2008 in

* 1st in the 100 m freestyle (0:48.55 min – German record – qualification for the

) Aachener Schwimmfest 2009 in

: * 50 m butterfly (00:22.06 min) world record World cup Berlin 2009: * 1st in the 50 m butterfly (00:21.80 min)

* 2nd in the 100 m butterfly (00:49.23 min) * 3rd in the 50 m freestyle (00:20.73 min)

Personal bests

Key: WR = World record

Personal life

His younger brother Markus also competed in swimming at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

References

External links

Website of Steffen and Markus Deibler
*

results at les-sports.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Deibler, Steffen 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Biberach an der Riss German male butterfly swimmers German male freestyle swimmers Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for Germany World record setters in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming 21st-century German sportsmen