The open water Olympic champion brings the third medal to the German team. His Ukrainian teammate took the stage for an emotional appeal.
After the gripping final sprint in German record time to silver at the World Championships, Florian Wellbrock blew hard, then the Olympic champion clapped his hands on his Ukrainian friend Michailo Romantschuk. The curse of more than 800 freestyles is banned: For the first time, the Magdeburg player won a medal over this distance on the world stage – as the first German in the history of the World Cup.
“At first I was a bit annoyed that I lost gold,” said the 24-year-old, who was only 27 hundredths of a second behind Olympic champion Bobby Finke after 7:39.63 minutes. As in Tokyo, the American flew by on the last runway. “But I’m very happy with the German record. The 800 has never worked out as well as it does today.”
Wellbrock is happy for Ukrainian training colleagues
Wellbrock gave the German team their third World Cup medal – the third in silver. “Maybe we can get another color out of the tank, otherwise it’ll get boring,” he said with a smile. “I’m happy for bronze winner Romantschuk, who has been an invitation to join the Magdeburg training group since the beginning of the war.”
His Magdeburg team colleague Lukas Märtens, who had shone at the start of the World Championships with silver in the 400 m freestyle, but broke down and was eliminated in the 800 m heat, was also cheering on the grandstand. “I’m his supporter, I don’t begrudge Florian,” Märtens said in advance.