Florian Wellbrock could actually be relatively relaxed about the final Olympic qualification at the German swimming championships starting on Thursday in Berlin.
The 26-year-old has already secured two starts in Paris. But that’s not enough for Bremen, who trains in Magdeburg with national coach Bernd Berkhahn. Wellbrock really wants to compete in the 800 meter freestyle at the Games, but he has to stretch a lot to do that.
“Since the World Cup in Doha, I haven’t had any failures in preparation,” says Wellbrock, and he’s already on the topic. As with the World Cup in Fukuoka 2023, he also had a few unforeseen failures in Qatar in February.
Difficult to explain weak phase
After he secured his ticket to France by winning the World Championships over ten kilometers in open water in Japan, things suddenly stopped working. He remained medalless in the pool and this continued in Doha in the open water and over 800 meters in the pool. There was some perplexity in the Wellbrock camp, but that disappeared in time when he fought his way to silver in the 1500 meter freestyle and thus also secured an Olympic ticket in the pool.
So now the open water Olympic champion from Tokyo is putting all his concentration on the 800 meters, which is on the program on Friday. “Simply undercutting the standard won’t be enough over 800 meters,” says the Magdeburg native. 7:51.65 minutes are required, Wellbrock is already significantly lower with 7:48.17 minutes, but still cannot plan for the Olympics on this route. Because there is only one starting place left because Sven Schwarz is seeded thanks to his fourth place in Doha.
And this one place is hotly contested, Wellbrock’s training colleague Oliver Klemet is currently ahead with 7:46.03 minutes. “I think you have to offer 7:42 minutes in Berlin. Let’s see what Oli Klemet or one or the other can conjure up,” says Wellbrock.
Training adapted
To ensure that the negative experiences in Doha are not repeated in Berlin and later in Paris, Berkhahn and Wellbrock analyzed the World Cup in detail. And it turned out that not everything in the preparation had meshed together. “We had increased strength training, Florian has become stronger, but this also means he has to be prepared differently for the competitions. That was already a problem for the open water races in Doha,” explains Berkhahn. Added to this were the cold water temperatures in Qatar. All of this had an impact on the first pool race.
“Over 800 meters he simply couldn’t find the rhythm or his technique. If things don’t go well, you as an athlete become unsettled,” says the coach, who as a result adjusted the training again.
At the altitude training camp in the Sierra Nevada, he attached great importance to ensuring that the technique was correct during intensive sessions and that Wellbrock remained in control. It remains to be seen to what extent the hard training will affect Wellbrock’s performance in Berlin.
There has been a lot of focus on recovery in the last few days after Wellbrock didn’t seem very lively over 400 meters at a swimming meet in Magdeburg last weekend and then skipped the 800 meters. He definitely wants to take advantage of the last chance for the third Paris ticket – despite all the uncertainty: “I have nothing to give away, it’s about the Olympics, you don’t give up voluntarily.”
