Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock failed again in the preliminary heat at the swimming world championships.
The 25-year-old open water Olympic champion hit the 1500 meter freestyle race in Fukuoka, Japan, after 15:10.33 minutes, taking 20th place and clearly missing the final. The 25-year-old had already surprisingly failed over 800 meters in the lead.
Wellbrock’s Magdeburg team colleague Lukas Märtens, on the other hand, easily reached the final on the longest pool distance on Sunday in 14:51.20 minutes as fourth of the heats.
Breaststroke swimmer Elendt struggles with a back injury
While Wellbrock is actually fit according to his trainer Bernd Berkhahn, breast swimmer Anna Elendt is struggling with a back injury. “We suspect it’s something muscular. It’s definitely nothing to do with the spine or anything,” said the 21-year-old after coming sixth in the heats to the semi-finals over 50 meters.
Elendt, who had arrived as vice world champion, had already been eliminated in the preliminary heat on Monday over double the distance. She did not comment on this afterwards. “It really started to hurt during the race,” she explained.
“I haven’t been in the water that much since the 100 breasts because I could hardly move. I worked with the physios and doctors every day. It’s fine since today,” she said. “It still hurts a lot, but at least I can touch my feet now. I can get on the starting block.”
Like Elendt, backstroke swimmer Ole Braunschweig also made it to the semi-finals. Over 50 meters, the 25-year-old Berliner took fifth place in the preliminary heat. The German 4×100 meter freestyle mixed relay reached the final in eighth place.
