Triumphant Florian Wellbrock and bronze winner Oliver Klemet celebrated Germany’s dream start at the swimming world championships with a warm hug.
At the award ceremony in the heat of Fukuoka, they proudly accepted the precious metal and then posed with oversized boarding passes: “Destination to Paris”. The Olympic ticket can no longer be taken from the two open water aces. “A terrific result, a great start to these world championships,” said Wellbrock after his victory over ten kilometers, also thinking of Leonie Beck, who had also won gold the day before.
With a white towel over his head to protect himself from the heat, Wellbrock spoke visibly relaxed about Germany’s impressive success at Momochi Seaside Park. “The joy is huge,” said the 25-year-old. “Germany is an open water nation and it’s great to be a part of it.” Third place for 21-year-old Klemet showed how strong the team is behind the model athlete.
Hansmann: “Hats off, really strong performance”
“Indescribable,” said the competitive sports director of the German Swimming Association, Christian Hansmann. “We hoped that it would be enough for a medal. But that it would be enough for two medals and then gold and bronze: hats off, really great performance!” Wellbrock won in 1:50:40.3 hours and celebrated his fifth title at the swimming world championships.
With the Olympic ticket in their pockets, he, Klemet and Beck, who watched the men’s race as a spectator and congratulated Wellbrock with a smile, can now tackle the coming year in a much more self-determined manner. They don’t have to be in top form at the unfavorably scheduled World Championships in February in Qatar, where further Paris starting places will be awarded. You could even skip the World Cup. When asked whether the medal or the Paris qualification was more valuable, Klemet even said: “For me, the qualification for the Olympic Games.” Beck and Wellbrock took a similar view.
Wellbrock doesn’t give the competition a chance
The native of Bremen and Klemet were not impressed by the warm sea water with an official temperature of 25.9 degrees, nor by the outside temperature of well over 30 degrees in strong sunshine. As with his open water Olympic victory in Tokyo 2021, Wellbrock put up with the difficult conditions and gave the competition no chance. He went straight to the front and pulled away on the last lap. Wellbrock’s lead of 18.7 seconds over second-placed Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky underlined his dominance.
With his success in the very first competition, the frequent competitor gained more self-confidence for the upcoming races in southwestern Japan. A result similar to that in Budapest 2022, when Wellbrock won five medals in five competitions, seems possible again. “Regenerate a lot and then attack again over the five kilometers”, Wellbrock gave the motto for his competition-free Monday and the next race. “There’s no time for sightseeing. I’ll have to catch up on that sometime after professional sport.”
In the open water, Wellbrock starts on Tuesday (3:00 a.m. CEST) as the defending champion. He left it open whether he would then compete in the season. In the second week of the World Cup, Wellbrock also wants to attack the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle indoors. So far no one has been faster than him on the longest pool distance this year.
Klemet shows his huge talent
For Klemet, who trains with Wellbrock in the strong Magdeburg training group of national long-distance coach Bernd Berkhahn, bronze is the first major international individual success of his career. He dealt with it with astonishing clarity. “We said before the start that it’s possible that we could both swim in the top three,” he said of a conversation with Wellbrock.
The youngster swam in the leading group right from the start and showed his enormous talent in the final phase of the race. Thanks to his podium finish, Klemet can now look forward to his first Olympic Games. In addition to the boarding pass from the World Association of the German Swimming Association, there was also the Paris mascot to set the mood.
