This was not how Florian Wellbrock imagined his World Cup debut in Qatar. The defending champion didn’t matter.
Defending champion Florian Wellbrock clearly missed out on a medal in the open water at the World Swimming Championships in Qatar. The 26-year-old swam at the top of the ten-kilometer race, but in the end he only finished 29th.
The Hungarian Kristóf Rasovszky secured victory in the port of Doha ahead of Marc-Antoine Olivier from France and bronze winner Hector Pardoe from Great Britain. The second German starter Oliver Klemet swam to eleventh place.
“He should have moved further forward in the fourth or fifth lap, but unfortunately he didn’t do that,” said national long-distance coach Bernd Berkhahn about Klemet’s performance. “He did very well at the end, but the attack came too late. It should have started earlier,” said Berkhahn.
Wellbrock is an Olympic champion on this route. He had already secured his ticket for the games in Paris this summer thanks to his triumph at the last World Championships. Klemet, who came third in Japan in 2023, can also start planning for the highlight of the season.
“After the fourth lap, Florian got cramps. In the fifth lap he reached the leading group again, but he could no longer mobilize and always swam at the same frequency. Due to the temperatures, it was no longer possible to increase the frequency again increase. That’s why he let it coast down,” said Berkhahn. Wellbrock is desperate and cannot explain this performance.
Source: Stern
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