Swimming World Championship: Break, Paris, Plan: Wellbrock’s lost titles as an incentive

Swimming World Championship
Break, Paris, plan: Wellbrock’s lost titles as a spur

After his historic World Championships with five medals, Florian Wellbrock would like to take a little distance from swimming and be closer to his loved ones.

“Relaxation, no swimming, regeneration, so that I can start training again next week with a good feeling” – this is how the exceptional swimmer summarized his plans. On Thursday and thus the day after bronze over ten kilometers in open water, the return flight was scheduled. Wellbrock finally wanted to hug his wife Sarah again and “cuddle” his dog Kojak. But he is far from tired of sport. The next big goal is the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Missed title defense as motivation

As an additional incentive for the upcoming big events not only two gold, one silver and two bronze in the pool and open water at the World Championships in Budapest help, but also what didn’t go so well. “We have something to do for next time,” said national coach Bernd Berkhahn, looking at the two bronze races over 1500 meters freestyle in the pool and the Olympic distance in open water.

“That will bother him a lot, because those are the two routes where he was world champion,” said Berkhahn, referring to the unsuccessfully defended titles from the World Cup in South Korea in 2019. “Of course, that’s a motivation for the next things, that we are tackling.”

A tight schedule makes regeneration important

Wellbrock was not as successful on his pool parade course and on the Olympic open water distance as he was three years ago. The Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri won both races. Are the most important competitions suffering from the tight program this time with five long-distance decisions in nine days?

After the final ten-kilometer competition, Wellbrock explained that the regeneration hadn’t worked out optimally at the end. He was just floored. However, Berkhahn does not rule out five titles. “I imagine it’s possible. If you drive a perfect preparation and if he is healthy. I think things would have gone better then. And he was very close.” A wisdom tooth operation forced Wellbrock to take a break from training before the World Cup.

Record set – Wellbrock develops

Berkhahn has very high demands on Wellbrock. The 51-year-old knows his model athlete very well. In Magdeburg he formed him into a world-class swimmer and Olympic champion. After Michael Groß 40 years ago in Ecuador, Wellbrock is only the second German swimmer to win five world championship medals at a world championship – Groß won them all in the pool. Kristin Otto holds the record for German swimmers with six medals for the GDR in 1986.

Wellbrock develops further with every top event, becomes more self-confident, more secure. Berkhahn still complains about tactical mistakes from time to time. But Wellbrock’s basic level is extremely high. Complete sporting dropouts like three years ago over 800 meters freestyle, when Wellbrock, as a co-favourite, completely surprisingly eliminated in the lead-up, he practically no longer has.

What’s next after Paris?

Wellbrock won four of the eight German swimming medals in the competitions in the Duna Arena and in Lupa Lake alone and had a very large share in gold with the open water relay. Mainly thanks to the native of Bremen, the slight upswing in German swimming continued.

How long Wellbrock will continue to hunt for medals in the swimming pools and lakes around the world and on which routes is an open question. “Paris is in focus and we haven’t even discussed what happens after that,” said Berkhahn. The summer games are also the goal for Wellbrock’s wife Sarah, who is currently on break. “Sarah is now getting on again. Then the two will pull through to Paris and then you will see what happens with family planning and so on,” said Berkhahn and added with a laugh: “You never know what’s going to happen with young people.”

dpa