Title fights in Qatar
Wellbrock before the next race at the Swimming World Championships: “Form is right”
Florian Wellbrock is looking forward to the next World Championship race. photo
© Xia Yifang/XinHua/dpa
Florian Wellbrock feels well prepared for his second World Cup appearance in Doha. It wasn’t just his coach who helped him prepare for this.
Exceptional swimmer Florian Wellbrock also resorted to professional mental help when dealing with his disappointing start to the World Cup.
“I sat down with my sports psychologist straight away and worked it through a bit,” said the 26-year-old in Doha. Wellbrock started the ten-kilometer open water race on Sunday as defending champion and surprisingly only came 29th.
Mentally it was “of course not that easy,” said Wellbrock. But he now knows that the cool water temperatures of almost 20 degrees were the reason for the drop in performance in the second half of the race. “In general, it’s good to know that the form is right,” he said. “It’s not like I’ve forgotten how to swim.”
Foregoing the five-kilometer race (11 a.m./CET) was not an issue for him. Wellbrock also has a title to defend in this competition. “I’ll be at the front and make sure I don’t get cold,” he said.