Florian Wellbrock was simply relieved. The World Championship silver medal in the 1500 meter freestyle after the previously tough days in Doha made the 26-year-old breathe deeply and smile in the catacombs of the Aspire Dome. “The mental performance that I brought today is almost higher than the physical performance,” said Wellbrock. “It was a really important step to leave here with a medal.”
Wellbrock gave the German team their sixth medal on the last day of the World Championships in Qatar. The last time the national team won more precious metal was at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Back then, the guarantors of success were still called Britta Steffen and Paul Biedermann.
Good performance after three weak races
Before the big and atmospheric finale, the best German swimmer in recent years had fallen far short of his expectations and his own standards. The Bremen native was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 800 meter freestyle. In the first week of the World Championships, as defending champion over ten and five kilometers in open water, he was unable to intervene in the fight for the medals.
On Sunday he only had to admit defeat to the outstanding Daniel Wiffen. The Irishman won by more than 10.5 seconds over Wellbrock. “That was really a blast,” said Wellbrock appreciatively. He himself finished in 14:44.61 minutes.
Signal to yourself and your opponents
Wellbrock was reminded of the 2019 World Cup in South Korea. Back then, too, he had shown comeback qualities after a preliminary run-out over 800 meters and even won gold over the longest pool distance. “The fact that after Gwangju I have now proven for the second time that I can come out stronger after such low blows: This shows that fighting is always worth it – no matter how modest things can be,” he said. “And that’s what sets me apart as an athlete and as a person.”
Wellbrock showed himself and the competition that he is still one of the absolute best in the world. He still has a lot of work to do on the way to the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. “There’s a lot to do,” he said and added, referring to Wiffen’s demonstration of power: “We have to stay on the ball.” The old consistency should be restored.
Strong record for the German team
With only one bronze medal, the German pool swimmers were historically weak at the World Championships in Japan a good six months ago. Now you can be very satisfied with the precious metal yield overall. They benefited from the first World Cup, which was scheduled in the same year as the Olympics, but also from the fact that numerous stars decided not to take part in the interests of optimal preparation for the Summer Games. It is therefore difficult to estimate what the performances shown in the emirate are worth with a view to Paris.
One thing is clear: Like Wellbrock after her good last race, Angelina Köhler is also leaving the World Cup with very positive feelings. She takes a lot of self-confidence with her. “It was amazing. It was so much better than I could have imagined,” said the 23-year-old.
The open-minded and generally good-humoured Berliner was crowned world champion in the 100 meter butterfly. No German pool swimmer has achieved this since Britta Steffen in 2009. With her gold medal, Köhler finally established herself among the world’s best. Lukas Märtens, who won bronze in the 400 meter freestyle, has been there for a long time.
Gose’s bitter silver race
In addition to Köhler and frequent starter Wellbrock, Isabel Gose, in particular, shaped the title fights from a German perspective. The 21-year-old won the first World Cup medals of her career – and then three. After winning bronze in the 400 and 1500 meter freestyle, she won silver in the 800 meter on Saturday, but at first she wasn’t happy about it at all. On the contrary: Gose was really desperate.
“It’s so close. I’ll never get a chance like that again,” she said after a real swimming thriller. She clocked in at nine hundredths of a second after the Italian world champion Simona Quadarella. “It’s just sad,” Gose said. Then she cried.
Because series winner Katie Ledecky from the USA decided not to take part in the World Cup in Doha, the fight for gold was open for the first time in many years. It was only after some distance that Gose began to be happy about the performances he had shown.
