Become an Olympic Champion? As a German swimmer? The last two to succeed in the men’s race were Michael Groß, 57, and Uwe Daßler, 54, at the 1988 Games in Seoul. One for West Germany, 200 meters butterfly, the other for the GDR, 400 meters freestyle, with a world record, that’s how it was back then. 33 years ago.
But if one is the current world champion, even double world champion in the pool and in the open water, it is still not a daring dream that Florian Wellbrock, 23, has set in his head. In swimming, however, there are a few more competitors at eye level than, with all due respect, in dressage riding or canoeing slalom, for example. And that’s why things can turn out very differently for the world champion, on Sunday in the final of the 1500 meter freestyle. For example, like on Thursday over 800 meters freestyle.
The 800 meters are a new Olympic route in Tokyo, so far only women have swum, men only the 1500 meters. Now both are swimming, one no longer wanted to give the impression that women could only make it half as far in the pool. The pressure of competition quickly increases on courses on which you can now also become Olympic champions, but the final on Thursday was ultimately a class reunion of the 1,500 meter elite: Wellbrock swam in the front, his Italian rival Gregorio Paltrinieri, the Ukrainian Michailo Romantschuk. And a new face: the American Robert Finke, 21.
Paltrinieri like a paddle steamer, Wellbrock like a submarine: that’s how things went in the Tokyo basin
Wellbrock’s race went excellently for a long time – and therefore very different from the 2019 World Cup in Gwanju, where he missed the 800 meter final before triumphing over 1500. Paltrinieri rolled on its outer lane like a paddle steamer, Wellbrock glided along like a narrow subway – if you want to learn something about the variety of swimming styles at the Olympics, you just have to watch these two crawl.
This time Wellbrock seemed to have everything under control, at 750 meters he was even the first to come out of the last turn. Then it was only fourth place in 7: 42.68 minutes, behind the surprise Olympic champion Finke (7: 41.87), Paltrinieri (7: 42.11) and Romantschuk (7: 42.33). It was still Wellbrock’s second best time ever swum. But slower than the German record he set on Tuesday in the lead-up (7: 41.77).
What was it? Wasn’t the sprint on the last track always his strength? And what does that mean for the 1500 meters on Sunday?
“Today it wasn’t enough in the back,” said Wellbrock, “normally I should have the Paltrinieri under control for the last 50.” At 650 meters he “increased the pace because I saw that everything was getting very tight” – maybe that was “a tick too hard, a tick too early”. All in all, however, the race “felt very, very good, only fourth place is annoying”.
It is always a big puzzle to analyze such an appearance in retrospect. How were the split times? What was the arm frequency? When was the pace tightened? When does the kick intensify? Wellbrock will now tackle this with his trainer Bernd Berkhahn and the team analysts.
In any case, Wellbrock did not seem concerned: “I showed in 2019 that I can deliver a very good 1500 after a not so good 800-meter race,” he said. At that time, however, Berkhahn had already noticed on the first run that the entire waterfront situation did not fit. This time everything was fine, except for the top speed.
What Wellbrock now knows for sure: that Paltrinieri is to be expected again – although the Italian at home was struck down by Pfeiffer’s glandular fever just a few weeks ago. “Two weeks ago I wouldn’t have bet a euro that I could swim here,” he said after the final, let alone winning silver. But now he is optimistic again – “also for the 1500 meters on Sunday”.