After gold with the relay, Florian Wellbrock also swam to the world championship title over five kilometers of open water at the swimming world championships.
Florian Wellbrock won his second gold at the World Championships in Budapest. The Olympic champion secured the title on Monday (June 27th, 2022) in the open water competition over 5 km after 52:48.8 minutes and thus won his fourth medal at the swimming world championships in Budapest. At the same time, Wellbrock followed in the footsteps of Thomas Lurz. The record world champion had triumphed in 2011 as the last German open water swimmer on this route at a World Cup.
Wellbrock had previously won silver over 800 m freestyle and bronze over 1500 m in the pool of the Duna Arena after the relay gold at the swimming world championships. On Wednesday, Wellbrock could get his fifth precious metal at the World Championships, then the race over the Olympic 10 km is on.
Wellbrock: “Had a great day”
“I had a great day today, beautiful weather again, exactly the conditions I want for the open watersaid Wellbrock: “It was a really cool race.”
The man from Magdeburg distanced himself from the Italian 1500 m world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri by 3.9 seconds in the Lupasee, bronze went to his Ukrainian training colleague Michailo Romantschuk.
After the triumph, Wellbrock also announced title ambitions for the final race over the 10 km: “I’ve proven several times now that I’m in very good shapesaid Wellbrock.The other guys will be a bit tired too. I’ll throw everything back in then.”