They have been among the absolute world leaders in open water for years: Florian Wellbrock and Leonie Beck. But there was nothing for her to win at the World Swimming Championships in Doha.
Both traveled to the desert state as double world champions, but both came away empty-handed in the end. First, Leonie Beck clearly missed out on the medals over the Olympic distance, finishing in 20th place, 00:45 seconds behind the new world champion Sharon van Rouwendaal. She also only finished 14th in the 5 kilometers. Again the world champion was called van Rouwendaal. It’s also surprising because the Dutch athlete is trained by the German national coach and Wellbrock’s home trainer Bernd Berkhahn in Magdeburg. Van Rowuendaal was in top form. Leonie Beck and Florian Wellbrock, on the other hand, do not.
Model athlete Wellbrock also swims behind
The world-class swimmer from Magdeburg didn’t get past 29th place in the Olympic distance of 10 kilometers, actually his parade distance, and in the end was even 1:37 minutes slower than the new world champion Kristof Rasovszky from Hungary. He also couldn’t keep up over the 5th kilometer distance and was only the second best German (9th) behind Oliver Klemet (8th).
And the 4x 1500 mixed relay (Leonie Beck/Rieder/Oliver Klemet/Schubert) also missed out on a medal, albeit just narrowly. LeonieBeck, Celine Rieder, Oliver Klemet and Arne Schubert took fourth place in 1:04:11.60 hours. Australia, Italy and Hungary could not be held.
Was the water too cold?
There are many questions about the Germans’ unsuccessful performances in open water. The most important one is: What was it about? The answers vary. The wavy, cold water is often cited as the reason. The sea water off Doha was around 19 degrees. And that meant it was a significant seven degrees colder than during the big triumphs at the World Cup in Fukuoka last year.
Nevertheless, the conditions are the same for all athletes and the sea, as is often said, is unpredictable. Florian Wellbrock and Leonie Beck also know this, which is why they have to quickly shift their training focus back to the Olympic Games. At the games in Paris there will be swimming in the river. The Seine is expected to have similar temperatures, if not colder, and there will be currents.
Now everything is focused on Paris
But national coach Constantin Deppmeyer is encouraging and emphasizes that the training calendar is entirely geared towards Paris. This gives hope that the top German athletes in the open water in Doha were only running at half their strength. Leonie Beck concluded: “We are not superheroes, we are not robots, we are just people. It can also happen that we don’t win a medal.” However, there is no detailed explanation for the poor performance.
Naturally, people at the DSV are by no means satisfied, but they are not worried either. Hopes for a successful performance in the open water at the Olympic Games are still high. The year is completely focused on the games. The big problem for Beck and Wellbrock is that nobody really knows where they stand at the moment. Because this World Cup certainly didn’t give us self-confidence. On the contrary. The big competitors from Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands were able to show here that they can be in top form early in the year and their ambitions for medals in Paris are no less.
Wellbrock starts in the pool
Florian Wellbrock skipped the mixed relay. He is now concentrating on the 800 and 1500 meter pool competitions at the World Championships in Doha. The pressure is much higher here. After all, in contrast to the open water in the pool, he still lacks qualification for the Olympic Games over both distances. The Bremen native repeatedly emphasizes, almost like a mantra, that the training times are good and that he is confident going into the competitions.
The mental strength that characterizes him will be put to the test this year among the German athletes. There haven’t been any competitions in open water without a medal for seven years. This unusually inferior performance in the open water competitions in January in the desert state of Qatar applies especially to the two double world champions.
