Isabel Gose raises hopes for the first German medal at the European Championships in Rome. The men’s relay clearly missed the podium.
Isabel Gose set her sights on her first precious metal on the long track at the European Championships in the “Freibad” in Rome on Thursday (08/11/2022) after a sovereign run. “I want to fulfill my dream that I couldn’t fulfill at the World Cup”said the 20-year-old, who was the second fastest in the 800-meter freestyle final on Friday.
Last year she twice missed the podium as the best and second-best European at the World Championships in Budapest – but now she is counting on good chances at the European Championships.
Lukas Märtens and his colleagues in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, Timo Sorgius, Henning Mühlleitner and Poul Zellmann, were about six and a half seconds behind in seventh place for bronze. “For me it was a second quicker than in the morning run, I’m super happy. I’m super proud to have started here with the guys.”said the 20-year-old, who handed over in second place.
Wellbrock relies on the 1,500 meters
After silver at the World Championships in Rome, Märtens is speculating on another medal in the 400-meter freestyle: “I think it’s doable.” He coped better with his corona infection after the World Cup than his training colleague Florian Wellbrock, who is still struggling with the consequences.
“It’s not quite as slippery as we thought it would be”said Wellbrock, who will not start the 800-meter freestyle on Friday because of his training deficit: “We’re now putting everything on the 1,500 and then we’ll see if something’s still possible in the open water.” Only after the advance over the “long edges” on Monday, the 24-year-old wants to decide whether the EM will continue for him.
Beck participates for fun
“The shape is absolutely changeable”reported national coach Bernd Berkhahn on Thursday, “Sometimes it’s good, sometimes not so good. That’s something that unsettles an athlete. When you jump in and don’t know what’s coming.” At the start of the European Championship, Wellbrock continued his training – but it took some getting used to. Because it’s in the competition pool in the morning “a little whimsical” was, he moved to the neighboring swimming pool, in which, according to Berkhahn, “Very old, venerable basin. It looks great, but is not necessarily functional”.
Open water world champion Leonie Beck swam at the start of the European Championship just for fun. The Würzburg native, who lives and trains for a year in Rome’s seaside resort of Ostia, reached the final in eighth place over 800 meters. She just started “because the pool is really cool – outdoor pool”. The 25-year-old used the race as a “training session” for the open water competitions next week.
Matzerath in the final
Gose had no chance of a medal as the final swimmer in the young women’s relay over 4×200 meters with Julia Mrozinski (Wiesbaden), Zoe Vogelmann (Heidelberg) and Chiara Klein (Potsdam) in fifth. Bronze was over four seconds away. Lucas Matzerath reached the final in seventh place over 100 meters breaststroke. For Sonnele Öztürk, on the other hand, it was the 15th place in the semifinals over 200 meters backstroke.