The German water polo players also lost their second World Cup group game. An 18-year-old won her third medal shortly afterwards.
Coach Petar Porobic’s water polo selection lost to former world champion Croatia in Debrecen by 9:13 (1:4, 1:4, 2:2, 5:3). Two days earlier the newly formed German team had lost 11:12 to Japan. The top scorer for Germany was Lukas Küppers, who scored three times.
At the World Cup in Hungary there are nine players in the German squad of 13 who have never been to a World Cup or European Championship. A win against Croatia would have been a huge surprise. At the end of the group phase, the team will meet Greece, who came second at the Olympics, on Saturday. Germany did not take part in the summer games in Tokyo last year.
O’Callaghan wins next medal
Meanwhile, Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan has already won her third medal. The 18-year-old swam to gold in the 100-meter freestyle in 52.67 seconds. Second place went to the Swedish world record holder Sarah Sjöström, bronze went to Torri Huske from the USA.
O’Callaghan had previously won the title in the 4×100 freestyle relay. She won silver in the 200 meters. The evening session took place for the second day in a row without German participation. That will change again this Friday.