Waited a long time – and was rewarded with silver: Tokyo Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock followed up at the Short Course World Championships in Budapest and secured his second medal.
As the fastest of the early runs over 800 meters freestyle, the 27-year-old watched from the stands on Saturday evening as only the Hungarian Zalan Sarkany passed him in the final race with the supposedly strongest competitors.
Wellbrock initially took the lead in the classification in the morning (7:31.90 minutes). Around seven hours later, there was certainty: Wellbrock was 1.34 seconds short of first place.
The Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi and Sven Schwarz (Hannover/7:33.24) took bronze. narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. There are no preliminary heats on the crawl routes at the title fights in Budapest; instead, the decisions are held in different time runs.
Fourth World Cup medal for Germany
Wellbrock gave the German Swimming Association (DSV) its fourth medal in Hungary. Already on Tuesday, the wait was worth it for the long-standing German model swimmer: the Magdeburg native also set the best time in the early races over 1,500 meters, and only one opponent was faster in the late run – Wellbrock secured silver.
After the Olympic Games, where he missed the finals in the pool competitions, among other things, Wellbrock competed again in the open water in November. At the World Cup in Saudi Arabia, the Olympic champion in Tokyo celebrated two victories over ten kilometers and in the relay.