Florian Wellbrock

Last updated

Florian Wellbrock
Florian Wellbrock Titze-Cup 2017.jpg
Wellbrock in 2017
Personal information
NationalityGerman
Born (1997-08-19) 19 August 1997 (age 26)
Bremen, Germany [1]
Height1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight76 kg (168 lb)
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Freestyle
ClubSC Magdeburg
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2020 Tokyo 10 km open water
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2020 Tokyo 1500 m freestyle
World Championships (LC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Gwangju 1500 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2019 Gwangju 10 km open water
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Budapest 5 km open water
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2022 Budapest Team open water
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Fukuoka 5 km open water
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2023 Fukuoka 10 km open water
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2022 Budapest 800 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024 Doha 1500 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2022 Budapest 1500 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2022 Budapest 10 km open water
World Championships (SC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2021 Abu Dhabi 1500 m freestyle
European Championships (LC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2018 Glasgow 1500 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2018 Glasgow Team open water
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2020 Budapest Team relay
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2018 Glasgow 800 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2020 Budapest 10 km open water
European Championships (SC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2021 Kazan 1500 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2021 Kazan800 m freestyle

Florian Wellbrock (born 19 August 1997) is a German swimmer. He is the world record holder in the short course 1500 metre freestyle, and has won multiple medals at the Olympics, World Championships and other international meets. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold in the 10 kilometre open water and bronze in the 1500 metre freestyle. In total, Wellbrock has won 28 medals at international competitions of which 20 are gold. This includes his gold medal at the Olympic games, six at the World Championships, six at the Swimming World Cup and six at the Open Water Swimming World Cup. [2]

Contents

Career

2015-2016: Early international career

At the age of 17, Wellbrock competed in his first international competition as part of the German mixed 4×100 metre relay team at the 17th Luxembourg Euro Meet. [2] However, his first individual appearance on the world stage was reserved for the 2015 FINA World Championships, where he placed fifth in the men's 5 kilometer open water event. [3] [4]

After turning 18, Wellbrock competed in the 2015 German Short Course Swimming Championships where he earned a silver medal in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 14:51.22 and placed twenty-first in the 400 metre freestyle. [2] However, at his first European Short Course Swimming Championships, he only competed in the 1500 metre freestyle, where he swam a time of 15:02.61 which was not fast enough to qualify for the finals. [5]

For his first meet of 2016, Wellbrock returned to Luxembourg for the 18th Luxembourg Euro Meet, where he competed in serveral events, including placing seventh in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 15:27.19. [6] [2]

Wellbrock continued to improve at his main distance freestyle events, placing first in the 1500 metre freestyle at the Norddeutsche distance champs with a time of 15:19.41. [7]

2016 Olympics qualification

In May 2016, Wellbrock returned to the German Swimming Championships (long course), where he competed in the 200 metres butterfly, 400 metres freestyle and 1500 metres freestyle. In the 1500 metres freestyle, Wellbrock set a new personal best of 14:55.49 which beat his previous long course record of 15:08.05, broke the 15 minute barrier, broke the under-20 age group record and put him in the top 10 1500 metre freestyle swimmers for that year. [8] [2] Additionally, since the time was under the 15:02.37 Olympic nomination standard, Wellbrock qualified for 2016 Summer Olympics. [9] With this time, Wellbrock was just over 5 seconds off the German national record of 14:50.36 set by Jorg Hoffman in 1991, which was a world record at the time. [8]

2016 Olympics preparation

In preparation for the Olympics Wellbrock entered one last international meet, the Meeting International de Canet-en-Roussillon 2016 (long course), where he placed twenty-seventh in the 400 metres freestyle and first again in the 1500 metres freestyle with a time of 15:00.71, just over 5 seconds outside of his personal best. [2]

2016 Rio Olympics

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wellbrock swam in the heats of the 1500 metres freestyle, where he finished with a time of 15:23.88 which was just under 30 seconds slower than his personal best set around 3 months earlier. [2] [10] [11] [12] This time did not qualify him for the final.

2016-20

Only 19 days after his Olympic debut, Wellbrock returned to competition at day two of the 2016 FINA World Cup in Berlin, where he again finished first in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 14:35.79. [13] [14]

A few months later, Wellbrock competed at the 2016 North Sea Meet, where he finished first in all three events he competed in: the 400 metres freestyle, 1500 metres freestyle and 200 metres butterfly. In both the 400 metres freestyle and 200 metres butterfly, Wellbrock set new personal bests of 3:49.02 and 1:59.68 respectively. [15] [2]

To finish off 2016, Wellbrock competed in the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), where he placed thirty-second in the 400 metres freestyle with a time of 3:47.30 and seventeenth in the 1500 metres freestyle with a time of 14:52.00. [2]

To start 2017, Wellbrock competed at Swim Open Stockholm, where he placed third in the 1500 metres freestyle with a time of 15:02.91 and second in the 400 metres freestyle with a time of 3:48.38.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first swimmer to win both the 1500m freestyle and the 10 km open-water race at an international competition. [16] [17] Wellbrock won the 10 kilometre open water swim in 1:47:55.90 with the silver and bronze medalists finishing within two seconds of his time. [18]

2021

2020 Summer Olympics

Wellbrock qualified to represent Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo, Japan and postponed to summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [19] His first medal of the Olympic Games was in the 1500 metre freestyle, where he won the bronze medal. [20] Wellbrock also won a gold medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim a few days later with a time of 1:48:33.7, which was over 25 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. [21] His gold medal was the first won in the event at an Olympic Games by a swimmer representing Germany. [20] His Olympic medals in pool swimming and open water swimming marked the second time a swimmer won medals in both disciplines at one Olympic Games and he was closely followed by the third swimmer to do so, Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy who also won a medal in each discipline at the 2020 Summer Olympics only Gregorio Paltrinieri won his second medal, a bronze medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim, seconds after Welllbrock and thus Wellbrock became the second swimmer in history to achieve the feat and Gregorio Paltrinieri the third. [22]

2021 European Short Course Championships

At the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships, held at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan, Russia, Wellbrock won a gold medal in the 1500 metre freestyle on 4 November with a time of 14:09.88. [23] On 7 November, Wellbrock won the silver medal in the 800 metre freestyle in 7:27.99, finishing five-hundredths of a second behind gold medalist in the event Gregorio Paltrinieri. [24]

2021 World Short Course Championships

At the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in parallel with the 2021 World Short Course Championships, in December 2021, Wellbrock won a bronze medal as part of the open water 4×1500 metre mixed relay event. [25] In his individual event, the 10 kilometre open water swim, Wellbrock won the gold medal in a time of 1:48:09.4, finishing over two seconds ahead of silver medalist Domenico Acerenza of Italy. [26] As part of the World Championships, Wellbrock swam a 14:25.79 in the prelims heats of the 1500 metre freestyle on 20 December, qualifying for the final the following day ranking third. [27] In the final of the 1500 metre freestyle, Wellbrock set a new world record with a time of 14:06.88 and won the gold medal. [28] [29] [30] Wellbrock also co-hosted a swimming clinic at the venue of the World Championships, Etihad Arena, with Anthony Ervin of the United States. [31]

Awards and honours

Personal life

Wellbrock married Sarah Köhler of Germany in January 2022 after getting engaged in December 2020. [41] [42]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Florian Wellbrock". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Florian WELLBROCK | Results | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  3. ↑ "Final results". Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Florian Wellbrock | LongSwims Database". longswims.com. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  5. ↑ "2015 LEN European Swimming Championships". netanya2015.microplustiming.com. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "2016 Luxembourg Euro Meet: Day 1 - Meet Results - Swimming World". www.swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  7. ↑ "Florian WELLBROCK | Results | World Aquatics Official". World Aquatics. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  8. 1 2 Race, Retta (5 May 2016). "2016 German National Championships - Day 1 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  9. ↑ Marsteller, Jason (5 May 2016). "2016 German Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap". Swimming World News. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  10. ↑ "Olympedia – Florian Wellbrock". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  11. ↑ "Men's 1500m Freestyle". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Florian Wellbrock". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Neidigh, Lauren (31 August 2016). "2016 FINA World Cup: Hosszu Wins 4 Events, Medals in 6 on Berlin Day 2". SwimSwam. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  14. ↑ Brien, Taylor (31 August 2016). "2016 FINA World Cup Berlin: Day 2 Finals Full Recap". Swimming World News. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  15. ↑ https://livetiming.medley.no/ltdok/lt2082/Bestemannspremier.pdf
  16. ↑ "Florian Wellbrock Becomes 1st to Win 10K/1500 Gold at Major International Meet". Swimswam News. 28 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  17. ↑ "Olympedia – 10 kilometres Open Water, Men". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  18. ↑ "Photo finish decides 10k open water race at world titles". The Seattle Times . 15 July 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  19. ↑ "Germany Stages Multi-Olympic Qualification Meets". SwimSwam. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  20. 1 2 Eggert, Greg (5 August 2021). "Wellbrock ran away with it!". FINA. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "Germany's Florian Wellbrock wins men's marathon swimming at Tokyo Olympics". ESPN. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  22. ↑ Murakami, Sakura (4 August 2021). "Marathon Swimming- Germany's Wellbrock wins men's marathon swimming gold". Reuters. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  23. ↑ LEN (4 November 2021). "2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships Kazan (RUS): Results 1500m Freestyle Men Final". Microplus Informatica. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  24. ↑ LEN (7 November 2021). "2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships Kazan (RUS): Results 800m Freestyle Men Final". Microplus Informatica. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  25. ↑ Byrnes, Liz (15 December 2021). "Gregorio Paltrinieri Steers Italy To Victory in Mixed Open Water Relay In Abu Dhabi". Swimming World . Retrieved 15 December 2021.
  26. ↑ "FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 – Grand Finale: Men 10km". FINA. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  27. ↑ FINA (20 December 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 1500m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing . Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  28. ↑ FINA (21 December 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 1500m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  29. ↑ Sutherland, James (21 December 2021). "Florian Wellbrock Smashes 1500 Free World Record In 14:06.88". SwimSwam . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  30. ↑ Rieder, David (21 December 2021). "Florian Wellbrock Takes Down 1500 Free World Record at Short Course Worlds". Swimming World . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  31. ↑ "Athletes underline commitment to sustainability and legacy in Abu Dhabi". FINA. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  32. ↑ "Tokyo Olympics: Top 10 moments". FINA. 24 November 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  33. ↑ D'Addona, Dan (17 December 2021). "FINA Yearly Awards: Caeleb Dressel, Emma McKeon Lead Winners; Filipovic, Steffens, Wellbrock, Cunha Too". Swimming World . Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  34. ↑ Serowik, Lauren (2 November 2019). "Swimming World Presents "The 2019 Open Water Swimmers of the Year: Florian Wellbrock and Ana Marcela Cunha"". Swimming World . Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  35. ↑ "Ana Marcela Cunha and Florian Wellbrock Earn Swimming World Open-Water Swimmer of the Year Honors". Swimming World . 24 December 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  36. ↑ Keith, Braden (18 December 2019). "2019 Swammy Awards: Male Open Water Swimmer Of The Year Florian Wellbrock". SwimSwam . Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  37. ↑ Keith, Braden (5 January 2022). "2021 Swammy Awards: Male Open Water Swimmer Of The Year Florian Wellbrock". SwimSwam . Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  38. ↑ Anderson, Jared (4 February 2021). "SwimSwam's Top 100 For 2021: Men's #20 – #11". SwimSwam . Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  39. ↑ Sutherland, James (20 January 2022). "SwimSwam's Top 100 For 2022: Men's #20–11". SwimSwam . Retrieved 28 January 2022.
  40. ↑ "Peaty, Sjostrom, Wellbrock & Van Rouwendaal Headline 2021 LEN Awards". SwimSwam . 31 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  41. ↑ Race, Retta (11 January 2022). "German Power Couple Wellbrock & Köhler Get Married". SwimSwam . Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  42. ↑ Koos, Torin (3 February 2022). "What your favorite swimmers and divers have been up to this offseason". FINA. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
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