Third day in the World Championship pool, fourth medal for the German team. Isabel Gose is allowed to attend the award ceremony for the second time. The actually best German swimmer, on the other hand, is in crisis.
Bronze winner Isabel Gose cheerfully greeted her father and grandparents in the stands, Florian Wellbrock quickly disappeared into the catacombs of Doha’s huge swimming pool after his next big disappointment.
The day after Angelina Köhler’s great gold triumph in the 100 meter butterfly, the German team was already happy about its fourth medal in the World Championships pool. After finishing third in the 400 meters, Gose also took bronze in the 1500 meter freestyle. Germany’s best swimmer in recent years, on the other hand, is a mystery and is far from achieving his desired Olympic performance.
“I’m just happy that I can stand on the podium again,” said Gose, who, unlike her Magdeburg teammate Wellbrock, is in strong early form. “It’s not just bronze. It’s also a ticket to the Olympics and a huge step forward,” she said happily. Lukas Märtens, who like Gose came third in the 400 meters, missed the medal in the 200 meter freestyle in fourth place by seven hundredths of a second.
Emotional support for Gose
Gose was particularly pleased about the emotional and loud support from the stands in the Aspire Dome. “My dad got a trip here as a Christmas present from my grandparents and his best friend. Actually, my parents can’t just afford it,” she explained. “It’s so nice when you know there’s a little piece of home in the stands.”
Without high-flyer Katie Ledecky from the USA, who is foregoing the World Cup, the Italian winner Simona Quadarella pulled away early. Gose fought a long, thrilling duel with Li Bingjie for silver and bronze. Gose secured the medal early on. While still in the pool, the 21-year-old, who clocked in at 15:57.55, congratulated Quadarella with a hug.
Wellbrock is in crisis
Around eight hours earlier, Wellbrock had had to cope with another low blow on the way to the Summer Games in Paris. As was the case last year in Fukuoka, Japan, the 26-year-old was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 800 meter freestyle.
The exceptional swimmer is in a sporting crisis. In his third race in Doha, Wellbrock experienced his third disappointment. As the defending champion, the Bremen native was unable to intervene in the fight for the medals twice in the open water.
“Surprisingly slow,” Wellbrock said of his time, which was around 8.5 seconds slower than his personal best on the course. “I thought we were going a little faster.” Wellbrock, who didn’t know at the time that he was leaving, added: “There might have been a little bit left in it.”
Things went much better for Sven Schwarz than for him. The second German starter qualified for the final as third fastest in the heats in 7:46.95 minutes. If everything goes perfectly, the 22-year-old will win a medal on Wednesday (5:02 p.m./CET). Also in the final is breaststroke swimmer Lucas Matzerath, who was sixth fastest in the semi-finals over 50 meters.
Source: Stern
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