Florian Wellbrock and Co. experience medal-worthy world championships in the Duna Aréna in Budapest and in the almost 30-degree warm Lupasee. Two golds, four silvers, three bronzes – the German Swimming Association (DSV) can write this record on its business card after twelve out of sixteen days of competition. And the major event that was relocated from Japan to Hungary within four months due to the pandemic is not over yet, there are still more chances for precious metal until Sunday. The mood in the DSV team is good, for medals there is sometimes a cake and table fireworks in the team hotel.
But the success cannot hide the structural weaknesses that have plagued German swimming and the DSV for years. It is mainly based on an island of the blissful that was created in Magdeburg a few years ago. The training group there around Wellbrock, his wife Sarah (who is not at the start in Budapest due to her studies), Lukas Märtens and Isabel Gose is highly efficient, national coach Bernd Berkhahn has installed an outstanding think tank and performance factory there, which he is tough on the matter and sometimes cordially guides in handling. His success is also Berkhahn’s success, said the leading figure Wellbrock at the World Cup.
The fact that Mykhailo Romanchuk, Wellbrock’s Ukrainian rival, has also been training in Magdeburg for months because of the war certainly hasn’t made the group any worse. But this think tank specializes entirely in long-distance freestyle.
The emigration to the USA or Italy disturbs the association massively
There is also a second important island in German swimming: the USA. Anna Elendt, who won silver in the 100m breaststroke in Budapest, has been improving for the past two years in Texas with renowned coach Carol Capitani. And she’s not the only one who raves about fantastic conditions, short distances, perfect support, campus flair – outside the German system, in which she grew up but wasn’t yet world class. That also bothers Berkhahn, who said before the World Cup: “We have a good education in Germany, but then there is a bit of a lack of being able to lead the athletes to the absolute top.” The emigration to the USA (or to Italy, where open water world champion Leonie Beck is currently training with world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri) disturbs the association massively.
But in addition to the narrow tip, there is a less and less broad basis in swimming. Swimming is becoming less and less attractive. The prospect of becoming a competitive swimmer, leaving family to move to a base far away and training hard early in the morning before school is daunting. And the compatibility of professional swimming and school? The example of Isabel Gose, who doesn’t do her Abitur and quits after the twelfth grade because she had to change schools several times in three different federal states, also gives food for thought here.
This is the real structural problem that lies beyond the Isles of the Blessed. Even if there are still some exceptional talents like Wellbrock, Elendt or Märtens who make it to the top.
