After gold with the relay, Florian Wellbrock also swam to the world championship title over five kilometers of open water at the swimming world championships.
Florian Wellbrock won his second gold at the World Championships in Budapest. The Olympic champion secured the title on Monday (June 27th, 2022) in the open water competition over 5 km following 52:48.8 minutes and thus won his fourth medal at the swimming world championships in Budapest. At the same time, Wellbrock followed in the footsteps of Thomas Lurz. The record world champion had triumphed in 2011 as the last German open water swimmer on this route at a World Cup.
Wellbrock had previously won silver over 800 m freestyle and bronze over 1,500 m in the pool of the Duna Arena following the relay gold at the swimming world championships. On Wednesday Wellbrock might get his fifth precious metal at the World Championships, then the race over the Olympic 10 km is on.
Wellbrock: “Had a great day”
“I had a great day today, beautiful weather once more, exactly the conditions I want for the open watersaid Wellbrock: “It was a really cool race.”
In the Lupasee, the man from Magdeburg distanced himself from the Italian 1,500 m world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri by 3.9 seconds, bronze went to his Ukrainian training colleague Michailo Romantschuk.
After the triumph, Wellbrock also announced title ambitions for the final race over the 10 km: “I’ve already proven several times that I’m in very good shapesaid Wellbrock.The other guys will be a bit tired too. I’ll throw everything back in then.”
Bronze for Wellbrock’s training partner Romantschuk
Wellbrock was not only happy regarding his victory, but also regarding the successes of the other medal winners. “Mischa” Romantschuk’s bronze provided a special emotional moment. The Ukrainian, who is training with Wellbrock in Magdeburg because of the war in his home country, was enthusiastically celebrated by his mother, sister and other family members from Ukraine. “To be honest, there were exactly the people with me on the podium that I would have wished for there,” said Wellbrock, who only missed his wife Sarah at the lake. “She has to take care of our dog,” he said, laughing.
Beck swims over 5 kilometers in fourth place
Leonie Beck would have liked to have won another medal. For Beck, who was part of the golden 4×1.5-kilometer mixed relay on Sunday, it was only enough for fourth place over the five-kilometer distance. “I waited a little too long with the final sprint. The ten kilometers are still important in two days,” said Beck, who finished third on this route in 2019.
On the shorter distance, which Olympic champion Ana Marcela Cunha from Brazil won ahead of Aurélie Muller from France and Italy’s Giulia Gabbrielleschi, Beck and Jeanette Spiwoks, who ended up ninth, were long at the end of the leading group. In the end, it was too far to go all the way to the front.
