National coach Bernd Berkhahn drew a thoroughly positive conclusion from the pool competitions at the swimming world championships in Budapest.
“Incredible,” said the man from Magdeburg, “we’re very happy with that. The team is just great, the atmosphere was great, the staff worked great. Everything was right.”
With the four medals from Florian Wellbrock (silver/800 m and bronze/1500 m freestyle), Lukas Märtens (silver/400 m freestyle) and Anna Elendt (silver/100 m breaststroke), the team of only ten surpassed the yield of the previous World Championships three years in Gwangju/South Korea. Berkhahn also rated the 14 finals as a great success.
Above all, the final day last Saturday with bronze for his protégé Wellbrock and three other finals with German participation was fun for the national coach: “That was great, what a finish! All the athletes who hadn’t left yet were in the final.”