Lucas Matzerath gave the German Swimming Association its fifth medal at the European Championships in Rome over 50 m breaststroke. Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock missed a medal in the 1,500 m freestyle.
The 22-year-old Matzerath from Frankfurt/Main came third in the final over 50 m breaststroke on Tuesday (08/16/2022) after 27.11 seconds. Gold went to the Italian Vice World Champion Nicolo Martinenghi ahead of his compatriot Simone Cerasuolo.
“My first medal at an international championship, I still can’t believe it,” said Matzerath in the ARD.
Wellbrock can’t swim at the front
Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock, on the other hand, missed a medal due to a lack of training after a corona infection. The double world champion came in fifth in the final over 1,500 m freestyle in the Foro Italico after 15:02.51 minutes. Gold went to the Ukrainian title holder Michailo Romantschuk, who is training with Wellbrock in Magdeburg because of the war in his home country.
“After 250, 300 meters I realized that I couldn’t keep up with the guys in front”, said Wellbrock in the ARD: “I thought for a while that I could at least salvage bronze, but that wasn’t possible. We knew what we were getting into, now we have the result.”
Wellbrock leaves a start in the open water at this European Championship open. “We’ll decide that tonight,” he said after the 1500m race. Wellbrock contracted Corona after the World Championships in Budapest, where he was the first German swimmer to win five medals in 40 years.
Wassen/Massenburg in fourth place from the tower
Elena Wassen and Lou Massenberg just missed a medal in mixed synchronized jumping from the tower. The Berliners received 278.58 points for their five jumps and finished fourth, just twelve points behind the third-placed Italian team Sarah Jodoin di Maria/Eduard Timbretti Gugiu. Surprisingly, Kyle Kothari/Lois Toulson became European champions with 330.78 points.
In the final of the one-meter board, Rostock’s Jette Müller had good chances of winning a medal. But then she had a messy immersion phase and ultimately had to be satisfied with fourth place. The junior world champion received 248.05 points and was eleven points behind bronze.