Florian Wellbrock, 23, had waited two years for this a good fourteen and a half minutes. Since his world championship title in summer 2019, everything has been geared towards this Olympic final: the chance of his athletic life. After the swimming competitions began in Tokyo, Wellbrock waited another eight days until the very last final session. Only on this Sunday morning was the final of the 1500 meter freestyle on the program, the longest distance in pool swimming.
Sometimes waiting is not good in sports, while waiting the thoughts come. Britta Steffen, the last German Olympic champion to date in Beijing in 2008, often read a specialist book until shortly before the start. Anything better than thinking. Especially when you add how long German swimming has been waiting for. There has not been a German Olympic champion among men since reunification. In 1988 in Seoul Michael Groß, known as “Albatros”, was the last for the Federal Republic (200 meters butterfly), Uwe Daßler the last for the GDR (400 meters freestyle, world record). Other times.
And now, on Sunday morning in the Aquatics Center in Tokyo: Florian Wellbrock actually swam to an Olympic medal – but not to a gold one. He finished third in 14: 40.91 minutes, behind the American Robert Finke (14: 39.65) and the Ukrainian Michailo Romantschuk (14: 40.66). To break it down to the simplest of all messages: The wait goes on. And yet it was worth the wait.
“It was not without reason that it took so long for German swimmers to win Olympic medals. Now we have two,” said Wellbrock on ZDF about the two bronze medals he and his fiancé Sarah Köhler, who were in the stands in the stands. Before Wellbrock, back swimmer Stev Theloke was the last German man to celebrate an Olympic medal in a single discipline in the pool with bronze over 100 meters in 2000.
Actually, Florian Wellbrock should have been given three medals. One for athletic performance. And one for the equally remarkable ability to let all the expectations roll off – the longing for someone who can redeem German swimming – and not to let setbacks throw you off track, like after fourth place on Thursday 800 meters. And a third: the consolation medal. Because you can see that there was more in there when you compare Wellbrock’s time in Tokyo with his personal bests. It was 14: 36.54 minutes at the World Cup in Gwangju, 14: 36.15 minutes even at the European Championships in Glasgow in 2018, his German record.
Wellbrock during the race.
(Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
It was a race with all old friends – but without the most famous of them all. Sun Yang, 29, the world record holder from China, was taken out of the pool after some legal back and forth because of his hammer affair: In 2018, after a doping control that got out of hand, he had a glass container with blood drawn from it smashed. Otherwise: the same celebrity line-up as in the 2019 World Cup final. The Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, 26, the 2016 Olympic champion. The Ukrainian Romantschuk, in Gwangju World Cup second behind Wellbrock. Unfortunately – at least from the point of view of the other three 1,500-meter musketeers – there was a fourth among the contenders for the three podium places, the young Finke, 21, from the USA. Finke had already won the 800 meters in Tokyo.
Wellbrock’s tactics should be determined by the fact that Finke was also there. Another final sprint like over the 800 meters, when Finke rolled up the field for the last 300 meters, had to be prevented. Wellbrock’s trainer Bernd Berkhahn explained this again the day before the race: just don’t stroll around, take it quickly, “keep the Finke so busy that he lacks the strength at the back”.
And that’s how Florian Wellbrock went about it. The pace on the first few lanes was faster than Wellbrock has ever swum. Four swimmers rolled head to head. Four, one too many. But Paltrinieri soon struggled – possibly a consequence of Pfeiffer’s glandular fever that had knocked him down just a few weeks ago. There were three left. And then Wellbrock let himself be lulled a little too much into security, he was comfortably leading the field and had everything under control. Or did the others just let him pull them away? At the very end, in the fight for the last few centimeters, Wellbrock then had to let both Finke and Romantschuk go.
Having to fight is not new to Florian Wellbrock. His youth in Bremen was not carefree for his parents, Wellbrock dropped out of high school. After moving from Bremen to Magdeburg, Berkhahn not only took him under his wing as a swimmer, the coach also accompanied the internship in a housing association and then the training to become a real estate agent. And because Wellbrock prefers to swim anyway, his swimming group has also given him support – he is now engaged to his colleague Sarah Köhler, 27. Even during the Corona months, the Elbschwimmhalle in Magdeburg was always open for Berkhahn’s training group. Florian Wellbrock is one of those athletes who not only give a lot to their sport, but to whom the sport in turn has given a lot.
And now it is the swimming couple Wellbrock / Köhler who have given the German Swimming Association (DSV) in Tokyo the first two Olympic medals in 13 years. He with bronze and she with bronze, each over the 1500 meters. Wellbrock has another chance next Thursday, in the open water, then over the ten kilometers. The world champion on this route, 2019 in Gwangju: Florian Wellbrock.