Cramps, frozen, only 29.
Frustrated Wellbrock is far behind in winning the World Championship title
The next German loses his world championship title: After Leonie Beck, Florian Wellbreck also suffers from the low water temperatures in the port of Doha. Completely frozen and plagued by cramps, the Olympic champion only just manages to swim into the top 30.
Florian Wellbrock did not want to say anything about his completely unsuccessful start to the World Championships. Frustrated and freezing, the Olympic open water champion crossed the interview area in the port of Doha and did not know himself why, as defending champion, he had only come 29th in the Olympic ten kilometers. “He is completely exhausted. He cannot explain it at all and is of course desperate,” said national coach Bernd Berkhahn. “He is behind and is frozen through.”
Wellbrock actually wanted to gain more confidence in his own strength with an eye on the Olympics in Paris this summer. Now he needs to rebuild himself.
Things got off to a good start for the German model swimmer, with the water temperature at a cool 19.9 degrees and a strong wind. In front of his parents cheering him on in the stands, Wellbrock was in the lead at the start of the race and established himself in a leading group. “The first two laps were no effort, everything was easy,” said Berkhahn. “But after the fourth lap he noticed that he was getting cramps. The temperature was already limiting him.”
Beck is also too cold to defend his title
Why this was the case was a mystery even to his trainer. “We actually trained for the low temperature,” said Berkhahn. “He didn't have that much of a problem.” Wellbrock's teammate Oliver Klemet, who won bronze at the last World Championships, was also shaking after the competition. He did not experience a slump like Wellbrock, who finished 1:37.8 minutes behind winner Kristóf Rasovszky from Hungary – even if his eleventh place was also below his own expectations.
The day before, Leonie Beck had clearly missed out on the medals – just like Wellbrock, she started as defending champion, got off to a good start and ran out of energy at the end. She, Klemet and Wellbrock had already secured their Olympic qualification. After the first two of five World Championship races in open water, however, it is now clear that the ambitious German swimmers still have a lot of work to do with regard to the races in the Seine.
The water there will probably be a little colder, but probably not cold enough to allow warm neoprene. To prepare his athletes for this, Berkhahn wants to have them train in the flow channel at cool temperatures and prescribe ice baths.
Before the final phase of Olympic preparation begins, Wellbrock still has a tight schedule at the World Championships. On Wednesday he will also be the reigning champion over five kilometers. Next week he wants to challenge himself in the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle in the pool. “First of all he has to eat properly. That's important,” said Berkhahn. The 52-year-old, who knows Wellbrock very well, added: “It will be a mammoth task to solve all of this again. But we're doing the best we can.”
