13 days after his fourth open water gold in Singapore, Florian Wellbrock swum into the final over 1500 m freestyle at the World Cup. The Tokyo Olympic champion won his lead in 14: 44.81 minutes and also booked the best time overall.
“A little relieved, not only satisfied” was Wellbrock with a view to the disappointments of the recent past. He added with a smile: “I have shown in the past two years that it is not a matter of course to get a round in the morning. This is the fastest lead time that I have ever put in, that’s extremely cool.”
Sven Schwarz, Vice World Champion over 800 m, qualified as four -fastest in 14: 45.31 minutes without problems for the final run on Sunday (1:31 p.m. CEST). Olympic champion Bobby Finke from the USA came fifth, Irish defending champion Daniel Wiffen did without his start.
“The field is just as tight as with the 800. Everyone can beat everyone, everything is in eighth to one,” said Schwarz.
Wellbrock had missed both finals in the pool at the 2023 World Cup in Japan after his double victory in the open water. The Magdeburger also failed in the preliminary at the Olympics in Paris. For Singapore, he had only qualified over 1500 m. In the sea in front of the island of Sentosa, he won over ten and five kilometers in the first week of the World Cup, in the new knock-out sprint and gold with the mixed season.
On the morning of the penultimate day of the competition, world champion Anna had already awakened new medal hopes. The winner over 100 m chest moved into the semi -finals over half the distance with the fourth best lead time. In 30.17 seconds, the Frankfurt native, who lives and trains in the United States, only stayed seven hundredths above her German record.
The mixed 4×100 m freestyle relay with Josha Salchow, Rafael Miroslaw, Nina Holt and Nina Jazy moved into seventh place in 3: 24.87 minutes. Vincent Passek reached the second round in personal best time (24.79) over 50 m. Angelina Köhler, on the other hand, left over 50 m butterfly as 32nd (25.56).