Walking routes in Budapest are not always easy. After the award ceremony, the swimmers at the World Championships always have to descend a set of stairs at the top of the 50-meter pool, certainly with pudding in their legs. Turn left, high five with the spectators, straight ahead, turn left, down a flight of stairs again. Then around the head side of the pool to the photographers. To smile. Florian Wellbrock smiled slightly, as was the case at the award ceremony. But really satisfied? Rather not.
The 24-year-old had won bronze on his parade route over 1500 meters freestyle. He failed to defend his title in 2019, when he became world champion in 14:36.54 minutes. The Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, who implemented his plan right from the start and sought salvation by fleeing, was also in the lead at the end of the race by a wide margin: He won it in 14:32.80 minutes – a new European record. The American Bobby Finke, who had snatched Gold from Wellbrock over 800 meters freestyle on Tuesday, grabbed silver, 24 hundredths ahead of the German.
“Bobby just ate me up on the last track, he’s making waves, that’s unbelievable,” said Wellbrock, “that’s why I’m going out there very happy with the bronze medal.” With Paltrinieri he knew “that he would start quickly, but I didn’t expect that he would start so quickly”. Still, Wellbrock didn’t seem too happy when he said it.
Podium: Silver goes to Bobby Finke (left), gold to Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri (middle) and bronze to Florian Wellbrock.
(Photo: FERENC ISZA / AFP)
Sure, the open water Olympic champion from Tokyo is quite self-confident, but is not one of the most extroverted swimmers at this World Cup. He doesn’t have to either, many are rather quietly happy about the great thing they have achieved. But national coach Bernd Berkhahn gave the story of the bronze medal won a slightly different twist almost 90 minutes later. “I’m ambivalent, the time was very good, close to his German record, everything’s great,” said Berkhahn: “But he just came out of the water and says: ‘I haven’t exhausted myself and I could continue swimming now.’ For my taste he started swimming too shy again. He then focused too much on Bobby, they let Gregorio swim, that was a big mistake.”
If you put the statements on top of each other, you wonder why Wellbrock didn’t at least try to break away from Finke’s giant wave a little, sometimes come half a length or a length forward. But maybe he didn’t want to make the mistake of panting after the prey, only to break in at the end. So Wellbrock and Finke pulled their lanes side by side, Finke surfed his wave, Wellbrock swallowed them, but they were rather leisurely on the first 800 meters – and Paltrinieri kept pulling away in this tactically exciting final, in the meantime he was three lengths ahead and three seconds below world record.
“Gregorio swims with a giant heart. The youngsters still have to behave a little bit,” said national coach Berkhahn, before he hugged and congratulated the Italian who had just passed. Wellbrock, who, it should not go unmentioned, had a not uncomplicated preparation with a few malaise, received physiotherapy in the evening. On Sunday morning the alarm clock rings at 8.30 a.m., a late breakfast – and then it’s off to Lupasee, ten kilometers down the Danube. Not for bathing, although the 25 degree warm water is said to be wonderful there. But to the open water relay. The next world championship race is coming up – with good prospects for the next medal.
