The jump at the start, the arm pulls, the turns – Felix Auböck has practiced them all thousands of times. Nevertheless, after his short course world championship title on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, some things were new for the swimmer. Above all, it was the crack afterwards. “I only spent the first three hours giving interviews and going from the award ceremony to doping control and swimming,” said the 24-year-old, who won the 400-meter freestyle final in the Austrian record time of 3:35 , Had won 90 minutes. Even if he enjoyed his greatest career success to date, everything had not passed him by without a trace. In the 800 meter freestyle, the Lower Austrian missed the final by half a second yesterday in twelfth place. “I got up very tired because it was very exhausting. But a gold medal is never too difficult. That’s something I swim for,” said the crawl specialist, who is still worn by endorphins.
“Taken along the way”
Auböck is only Austria’s second swimming world champion after Markus Rogan. After his title in 2008, the latter remained without medals at the subsequent games in Beijing, also because he had lost focus. Auböck knows what it has beaten: “It is very important that I get back to reality as quickly as possible. The main focus for me was not on this short course World Cup. We said we would take it on the Away with.” The preparation didn’t look like a season highlight. This will remain the long-track World Cup in Fukuoka, Japan next May, with the career goal being an Olympic medal in Paris in 2024. “If I want to be successful in 2024, it would be good if I had this experience with the entire field of participants on the long course beforehand.”
Bucher reached the final with a record
Simon Bucher scored an exclamation mark yesterday, who made it into today’s finals over 100 meters dolphin in 49.70 seconds, the sixth fastest semifinal time (ORF Sport Plus will broadcast from 2:50 p.m.). The ASV Linz athlete was the first Austrian to stay below the 50-second mark. “I was hoping that would happen soon and this was just the right moment for it,” said the 21-year-old, hoping for a further improvement today. Cornelia Pammer from Traun finished 39th in the 100 meter freestyle in 55.71 seconds.
Auböck in portrait page 4.
Source: Nachrichten
