Four in four for Germany's open water king Florian Wellbrock at Sentosa
SINGAPORE – Few things are predictable when it comes to nature's elements, but off Sentosa's waters, Florian Wellbrock is proving to be one of those rare constants as he won a fourth title in five days at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore.
On July 20, the final day of the open water races, there was a familiar sight on the blue pontoon emblazoned 'World Aquatics Singapore 2005' at Palawan Green as the 27-year-old stretched out his hands in delight, while teammates Isabel Gose, Oliver Klemet and Celine Rieder joined in the celebrations.
Anchoring his team to victory in the mixed 4x1,500m relay, Wellbrock touched the finish pad first as Germany won in 1hr 9min 13.3sec for their first gold medal in this event since 2022 after finishing fourth in the last two editions.
Italy's Barbara Pozzobon, Ginevra Taddeucci, Marcello Guidi and Gregorio Paltrinieri (1:09:15.4) settled for silver, with Hungary's Bettina Fabian, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem (1:09:16.7) third.
Just a day before, Wellbrock became the first open water swimmer to
win three individual events at the WCH when he clinched the new 3km knockout event, following earlier victories in the 10km and 5km races.
The Tokyo Olympic 10km champion held up four fingers to signify his bountiful haul in Singapore, something he had not expected.
Germany's Florian Wellbrock holding up four fingers to represent the number of gold medals he won in Singapore.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
'I tried to be in the top position in the 10km and the rest of the races were like a bonus. I think nobody came here to win four gold medals, not me or anyone else,' he told The Straits Times shortly after the win.
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In the press conference later, Wellbrock was still at a loss for words.
'To be honest, I'm still speechless, so I have no idea (how) I did it, and I'm so proud of my team today,' he said.
'We made history today. The relay is always special... I'm absolutely proud of my team and my own performance.'
In the mixed 4x1,500m team relay, four swimmers (two men and two women) swim one lap of 1,500m each. Teams deployed different combinations, with some sending out their male athletes first and ending with their female swimmers, while some opted to start with the women.
Australia (Chelsea Gubecka), Italy (Pozzobon), Germany (Rieder), France (Clemence Coccordano) and Hungary (Bettina) all started with female swimmers on the first leg, while teams such as Thailand (Ratthawit Thammananthachote), who led before the first changeover, started with a male swimmer.
But by the end of the second leg, Germany were in the top three before capturing the lead in the third leg.
Gose, Germany's third swimmer, then handed over to Wellbrock with a healthy lead. Italy's Paltrinieri started the final leg of the race well and closed the gap on Wellbrock, while Betlehem of Hungary was also looking to make it a nervy finish for the Germans.
But Wellbrock had enough in the tank to hang on.
Wellbrock is not done with his medal harvest just yet. His attention will now shift to indoor swimming, which kicks off on July 27. He is expected to compete in the men's 1,500m freestyle, in which he holds the short course world record.
But, for now, his body is in need of a rest.
He said: 'All batteries are empty. I think it is a combination of empty body and emotional mind. One week of racing all events is really tough, and especially with the pressure today, I was absolutely happy to finish my competition, and this happened with a great performance. I need a little reset.'
Singapore's quartet of Chantal Liew, Kate Ona, Russel Pang and Artyom Lukasevits finished a respectable 14th out of 23 teams in 1:15:39.00, ahead of South Korea (17th), Thailand (18th), Hong Kong (19th) and India (20th).
Liew, 26, said she was pleased with the home team's display.
'We can hold our heads high. We were ahead of our South-east Asian rivals Thailand as well as South Korea. Overall, I am really proud of the team,' she said.
The final day of open water swimming brings to an end four days of intense battles across the 10k, 5km, 3km knockout sprint and mixed relay races.
The waters off Sentosa had been the centre of global attention even before racing began.
Following two delays after tests revealed that Escherichia coli bacteria levels in the waters off Sentosa had exceeded World Aquatics thresholds, the events finally kicked off in the afternoon of July 16.
This had resulted in punishing conditions of 30.4 deg C for the water temperature during the men's event and 30.8 deg C for the women's, with several swimmers describing it as one of the most gruelling races of their careers while some athletes were unable to complete the opening race.
While open water swim events have concluded, attention in Sentosa will now shift to the 37-metre tower that will be the centrepiece of the high diving competition from July 24 to 27.
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