Qualifying for 2025 World Aquatics Championships, Felix Iberle Faces Next Challenge

More than a year has passed since Felix Viktor Iberle became a sensation for Indonesian aquatics by winning the Junior Swimming World Championship in September 2023. Now, Felix is looking ahead to his next challenge at the senior level by qualifying for the 2025 Aquatic World Championship in Singapore. He is determined to reach the podium.

Felix secured qualification for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships after achieving the A limit at the 60th MILO/MAS Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championships 2025, held from February 20-23. In one of the events serving as a qualifier for the World Championships, Felix emerged as the gold medalist in the 50-meter breaststroke category with a time of 27.33 seconds.

With that recorded time, Felix surpassed the minimum time limit or Limit A, which is also 27.33 seconds. Limit A for the 2025 World Championship is determined based on the fastest time from the A qualification standard at the Fukuoka 2023 and Doha 2024 Aquatic World Championships, as well as the 16th place time from the preliminary round of the 2023 Aquatic World Championship.

The record time not only qualified Felix for the 2025 World Championship. With 27.33 seconds, the 20-year-old swimmer achieved fifth place in the world rankings for the 50-meter breaststroke event in 2025.

Felix's mother, Bibiana Iberle, stated that her son was very pleased with the achievement. Moreover, for them, the World Championship serves as one of the benchmarks for an athlete's abilities at the international level.

Nevertheless, Felix refuses to be complacent with merely qualifying. The primary goal of this German-Indonesian swimmer is to achieve accomplishments akin to those at the junior level. He aims to stand on the podium at the event scheduled to take place from July 11 to August 25, 2025.

"Felix has already passed the qualifications. Now, the important thing is support and approval from various parties so that Felix can achieve the podium target," said Bibiana.

Despite being on the list of athletes for the national training camp, Felix was trained directly by his father, Frank Iberle. Felix's father is a German citizen who has lived in Bali for some time for work. They are now training in Penang, Malaysia.

Felix was given the freedom by Indonesian Aquatics to implement his own training pattern and choose the tournament. The manager of the Indonesian national swimming team, Wisnu Wardhana, had said that the training pattern had proven successful and suitable for Felix so that the Indonesian national team would not change it.

During the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games, for example, Felix also trained independently in Malaysia. He successfully won the 50-meter breaststroke gold with a time of 27.70 seconds.

Likewise, during the World Junior Championships, Felix trained in France and was able to win the gold medal in the 50-meter breaststroke in a time of 27.39 seconds.

Bibiana said Felix prioritized training in Malaysia this year considering the distance and the adjustment of the race venue in Southeast Asia. The World Championship will be held in Singapore so Felix does not need to spend much time traveling from Malaysia. Stamina is also expected to be maintained.

In addition to the World Championships, Felix is also training in preparation for the 2025 SEA Games. At the end of the year, the SEA Games will also be held in Southeast Asia, precisely in Thailand.

The head coach of the Indonesian national swimming team, Albert Sutanto, said that Felix is indeed one of the swimmers who has the potential to qualify and even excel at the World Championships in terms of time. Moreover, during the Junior World Championships, Felix recorded a time of 26.98 seconds.

The time was just 0.01 seconds off the world junior record for the men's 50-meter breaststroke set by Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy in 2017. With that record, Felix has a chance to advance to the final round.

Indonesia's best achievement throughout its participation in the World Swimming Championships was qualifying for the semifinals through I Gede Siman Sudartawa. Siman advanced to the semifinals of the 50-meter backstroke at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

In the semifinals, Siman set a national record of 25.04 seconds. However, the Balinese swimmer eventually finished 15th out of 16 swimmers.

According to Albert, there are at least six other Indonesian swimmers who can follow Felix to break into the World Championships. These swimmers have recorded their best times that can break through the B limit (the time standard is obtained by multiplying the A limit by 3.5 percent).

However, the swimmers have yet to test it in the qualifying event. They will only qualify for the 55th Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships on March 18-23.

Like Albert, Siman also believes Felix has the potential to shine at the World Championships. Moreover, Felix has valuable experience from the same event at the junior level.

Felix has about four months to mature his preparations. It is worth waiting to see whether Felix can meet his target of getting on the podium. If that happens, Felix will not only surpass Indonesia's best achievement in the World Championships, which was achieved by Siman, but also create a new phenomenon.