Short Course World Championships
World Cup gold as a spectator? Wellbrock can create something special
Florian Wellbrock swims a best time at the start of the Short Course World Championships. But he won’t find out whether it’s enough to win the title until later. An unusual mode is responsible for this.
Today Florian Wellbrock can become swimming world champion in an unusual way: as a spectator. The 27-year-old swam the fastest time of the morning races in the 1500 meter freestyle at the Short Course World Championships in Budapest. His mark of 14:17.27 minutes counts directly for the final tally. Whether it’s enough to win the title won’t be decided until the evening. Then another run takes place. If no one is faster than Wellbrock, the Bremen native can celebrate the title.
In major title fights like the Olympic Games, in which Wellbrock disappointed in Paris this summer, there are usually preliminary heats in which the athletes can qualify for a final. Things are different this time at the World Cup on the 25-meter track. The race is held directly as a decision in several time runs.
Because Wellbrock hasn’t swum any short course races recently and therefore couldn’t show a quick registration time, he was already challenged in the morning. In the second session of the day it is the turn of the swimmers with the best reporting times. Sven Schwarz will also be watching with excitement: The 22-year-old swam the second fastest time in the morning and therefore also has a chance of winning a medal.
American swims world record
Olympic bronze winner Isabel Gose can hope for a medal in the 400 meter freestyle. The 22-year-old made it to the final as fifth fastest in the heats.
On the first day of the World Cup, the American Gretchen Walsh also provided a highlight. She set a world record in the 50 meter butterfly in the preliminary run. The 21-year-old clocked in after 24.02 seconds and beat the more than 15-year-old record set by Swede Therese Alshammar by 36 hundredths of a second.
dpa
Source: Stern
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