fFlorian Wellbrock was hanging over the line in the World Cup pool in Fukuoka without help. Teammate Lukas Märtens, who slapped him sympathetically on the shoulder, couldn’t comfort him either. For the second time at the World Championships in Japan, co-favorite Wellbrock was eliminated in the preliminary round. The 25-year-old collapsed completely in the 1500 meter freestyle on Saturday and was eliminated in 20th place in the heats.
Wellbrock clocked in at 15:10.33, more than 35 seconds slower than his German record over the distance – an eternity in the pool. At first he didn’t want to say anything about it. “Lukas will be right there for you,” he said in the interview zone of the Marine Messe and continued walking with a white towel over his shoulder. He then commented a good six hours after his race. “I’d like to give answers about what happened – or didn’t happen – in the last week. We don’t have any answers,” Wellbrock said. The double world champion in open water did not make it to the final in the 800 meter race on Tuesday.
Wellbrock: “Not who I usually am”
“Today feels a bit surreal,” Wellbrock said. “In the last few years and actually up until this morning, a lead-in was never an issue for me. Now I’ve surprisingly failed at this hurdle twice.” Wellbrock added: “What I showed here at the World Championships in the pool: That’s not the Florian Wellbrock that I usually am.”
He doesn’t believe that the mental pressure was a reason for his performance. “What’s happening here is what I get up for every day, what I love, what I’m passionate about,” Wellbrock said. “Of course the pressure is there somewhere. That’s part of it. But I also think that I can handle this pressure. That’s why I’m a competitive athlete, that’s why I’m doing it so successfully.”
Märtens, who made it through to the final in fourth place in 14:51.20 minutes, was shocked by the performance of his Magdeburg training partner and buddy. “I really liked the race, but during the race I thought to myself: what’s actually going on here?” he said. He had no explanation for Wellbrock’s second very weak competition within five days. “I don’t want to get into that now either. He has to analyze everything himself with Bernd. I don’t want to judge him at all,” said Märtens.
Bernd, this is national long-distance coach Bernd Berkhahn. Shortly after the race, the 52-year-old was also unable to explain what he had just seen. “If I only knew…” he said to Wellbrock. “Actually, he is fit and in a good mood.” To be on the safe side, Wellbrock did a corona test. There were no signs of illness.
Many had hoped for a comeback like 2019 from the native of Bremen. At that time, Wellbrock was also eliminated over 800 meters in Gwangju, South Korea, and was then crowned world champion over 1500 meters. “This time he didn’t get the curve,” said Berkhahn. The coach said of his athlete’s condition: “Of course he’s very disappointed. What else should you expect from a top athlete? He comes here to win medals, no question. That was also his claim.”
In the first week of the World Cup, Wellbrock had managed to do that impressively. In the sea off Momochi Seaside Park, he won gold over five and ten kilometers in open water. He skipped the subsequent season to better prepare for the pool races. The plan didn’t work out.
“Now it’s about rebuilding Florian,” said Berkhahn and added: “He did a great world championship here. He has twice become world champion. That’s the priority for me.” Wellbrock himself said with a view to the 2024 Olympics: “We’ll get everything straightened out again by Paris.”
Even without Wellbrock, the German team can hope for precious metal on Sunday (1:16 p.m. CEST). Märtens, who won bronze in the 400m freestyle, is in strong shape. “I have a lot of confidence in him,” said Berkhahn. “Just as he is mentally at the moment, I’m looking forward to the race.”
Woes with a back injury
Meanwhile, breast swimmer Anna Elendt is struggling with a back injury. “We suspect it’s something muscular. It’s definitely nothing to do with the spine or anything,” said the 21-year-old on Saturday in Fukuoka after she had advanced to the semi-finals over 50 meters in sixth place.
Over double the distance, Elendt, who came second in the World Championships, was surprisingly eliminated in the preliminary heat on Monday. She did not comment on this afterwards. “It really started to hurt during the race,” she explained. “I haven’t been in the water that much since 100 breasts because I could hardly move. I worked with the physios and doctors every day. It’s fine since today,” she said. “It still hurts quite a bit, but at least I can touch my feet now. I can get on the starting block.”
Sarah Sjoestroem and Ruta Meilutyte then set world records in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke. In the semifinals, Sweden’s Sjoestroem beat her own record from 2017 by four hundredths of a second to 23.61 seconds. Sjoestroem had recently become world champion in the 50m butterfly.
Lithuania’s Meilutyte equaled the world record set by Italy’s Benedetta Pilato in 2021 on the breaststroke, also in the semifinals in 29.30 seconds. In this run, Elendt came in sixth, in the sum of both semifinals the Frankfurter was twelfth and was therefore eliminated.
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