Swimming World Championship: Critical and sensitive: Coach Berkhahn as a medal guarantor

Swimming World Championship
Critical and sensitive: Coach Berkhahn as a medal guarantor

Successful coach Bernd Berkhahn is not really euphoric after the second gold medal of his flagship swimmer Florian Wellbrock. “We still have a race,” says the trainer and laughs.

If you want to be successful in so many World Cup decisions in the pool and open water, “you’re in a bit of a tunnel,” explains the 51-year-old. “The euphoria comes afterwards.” German swimmers have won five individual medals in Budapest so far. Four of them can be attributed to Berkhahn’s training group in Magdeburg, with four-time medalist Wellbrock as a role model.

The German elite meets in Magdeburg

Berkhahn on the Elbe has built a top-class long-distance team around the open water Olympic champion with his exceptional skills, who also had a large share of the relay gold in the open water. If you want to tear something in Germany over long distances, switch to Magdeburg.

Wellbrock came from Bremen, his wife and Olympic bronze medalist Sarah from Heidelberg. World Championship runner-up Lukas Märtens and Isabel Gose, who swam to the final three times in Hungary, also train at Berkhahn. In addition, Ukrainian top swimmer Mykhailo Romanchuk joined the group because of the war in his homeland. Berkhahn also has a share in his two medals so far.

The expert is a helpful teacher and contact person, but also a critic. If he doesn’t like something, he says so – also publicly. Whether organizational problems or sporting criticism: Berkhahn has no problem addressing it.

Communicator – but not a grinder

Last year, the coach was one of the signatories to a letter in which he and other well-known swimming representatives demanded specific information from the board of directors of the German Swimming Association (DSV) and President Marco Troll and, among other things, clearly criticized “non-transparent and diffuse communication”. At the World Championships, after his bronze medal in the 1500 meter freestyle, Berkhahn criticized Wellbrock’s race for being too slow. In the past, he has also spoken of advantages given or missed opportunities in relation to Wellbrock.

During the training sessions in the Duna Arena, the coach kept talking urgently to his star student. Explained, gave tips. Berkhahn knows exactly what he wants from his athletes and can obviously convey that very well. He’s not a grinder. In Budapest you can see how much he suffers with his athletes and how he is affected by the situation of Romanchuk and his family.

Coach wanted for short distance

The athletes appreciate his style. You don’t hear any criticism of the coach from them at all. Märtens, who came second in the 400m freestyle at the World Championships, praises Berkhahn as a “very good coach”. Freiwasser national coach Constantin Depmeyer says with reference to Wellbrock: “He has a top team of coaches around him, a top team of supervisors. The Magdeburg overall construct will continue to build and push the performance. » This overall construct works great in Germany on long-haul routes. Something similar should now be found on the short-haul route.

While Berkhahn should focus even more on Wellbrock and his training colleagues, DSV is currently looking for someone who can take on a similar role for short distances. In the 50 and 100 meter distances there is still a lot of potential for improvement despite Anna Elendt’s World Championships silver medal in the 100 meter breaststroke.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of talent. But I believe that talents are not encouraged and challenged enough on short-haul routes,” Wellbrock said before the World Cup. He cannot say exactly what needs to be changed. But: “In the long-distance area, I know that we work in Magdeburg with the right training methods.” And apparently with the right coach.

dpa