A lightweight hall in Magdeburg that most recently served as an interim court venue for the trial concerning the Christmas-market driver is being converted into a training base for Germany’s elite swimmers. It is a practical addition of capacity for the run-up to the 2028 Olympics, rather than evidence that the city’s long-term sports-infrastructure needs have been settled.
Der SPIEGEL reports that a pool has already been installed and is due to be filled this week. The facility is described as a full Olympic pool: 50 metres long, 25 metres wide and 2.10 metres deep. It is also expected to include strength-training rooms, changing areas, sanitary and shower containers, coaches’ offices and meeting rooms.
According to the report, a two-week trial operation is planned from the middle of next week. All elite swimmers are intended to train at the former interim court from mid-December, or by January at the latest. SC Magdeburg’s group includes athletes such as Lukas Märtens, Isabel Gose, Florian Wellbrock and Johannes Liebmann, who have developed into world-class competitors under coach Bernd Berkhahn.
The installed pool, planned filling and trial timetable make this more than a paper proposal. They put the hall on a defined operational path for preparation toward Los Angeles 2028. Yet the arrangement is explicitly temporary: the pool is expected to remain in place only until the end of June 2028.
That distinction matters. A regulation-size pool can be a meaningful short-term asset for a successful training centre. But the supplied report gives no total construction, operating or removal costs, and no account of what will provide a lasting solution once the temporary facility is gone. Magdeburg is creating usable training space; it is not, on the evidence available, resolving the wider infrastructure question.
Sources
- Der Spiegel · Source date: 2026-11-11
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-11