At the swimming world championships in Budapest, Ole Braunschweig made everyone sit up and take notice with a new German record over 50 meters backstroke.
On Friday (June 24th, 2022) Braunschweig was the second fastest in the 50m backstroke after 24.58 seconds. He was a hundredth below Helge Meeuw’s 13-year-old record, which came from the era of high-tech suits.
“I’m super excited right now. That’s great, ultimately cool,” said the Berliner, beaming with joy. In the semi-finals on Friday evening he wanted to swim “at full speed” and “put it one more”.
Wellbrock on course to defend his title
Double world champion Florian Wellbrock started his mission to defend his title in the 1500 m freestyle with a heat win in 14:50.12 minutes. His two training colleagues from Magdeburg, Michailo Romantschuk (Ukraine) and Lukas Märtens, also qualified second and sixth in the final on Saturday evening. “At first we were completely on target“, said Wellbrock, who in the fight for gold has to defeat the strong sprinting US Olympic champion Bobby Finke.
After fourth place in the preliminary heat over 50 m breaststroke (30.12), Anna Elendt can also hope for a medal. The woman from Frankfurt has already won silver over twice the distance, but was surprisingly eliminated in the preliminary heat over 200 m.
Gose sixth in 800m final
Freestyle swimmer Isabel Gose finished sixth in her third final of the World Championships in Budapest. The 20-year-old from Magdeburg crossed the finish line over the 800 m in 8:23.78 minutes and was two seconds faster than her personal best. Previously, the girlfriend of Vice World Champion Lukas Märtens had finished fifth (400 m) and eighth (200 m).
The gold medal was secured once again by the outstanding Katie Ledecky from the USA, who had already won the previous four World Championships over this distance. In 8:08.04 minutes, she easily won ahead of Kiah Melverton from Australia and Italy’s Simona Quadarella.
Synchronized swimmer Alvarez not at the start after collapsing
Synchronized swimmer Anita Alvarez, who collapsed during the solo freestyle on Wednesday, did not start in the team final on Friday. The two-time Olympic champion followed the performance of her eight teammates in the outdoor pool on Margaret Island from the edge of the pool. After the performance, the 25-year-old hugged the other swimmers from the USA. Immediately after her free solo freestyle on Wednesday, Alvarez passed out in the World Cup pool, went under and was rescued by her trainer Andrea Fuentes and another person.