Germany’s Florian Wellbrock made it a German sweep of the 10km gold medals on Sunday as he won the nearly two-hour race to join national teammate Leonie Beck as gold medallists in the event. Joining Wellbrock on the podium was his bronze medal-winning teammate Oliver Klemet, with Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky taking the silver.
German superstar Florian Wellbrock started his Fukuoka 2023 campaign with a gold medal Sunday in the 10km at the Seaside Momochi Beach Park in Japan, securing his official qualification for the 10km at the 2024 Olympics in Paris as he will be in France to defend his Olympic gold medal from Tokyo.
At the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023, the top three from the 10K would automatically qualify for the Olympics next year. 13 athletes per gender in the 10km event at next year’s Worlds in Doha in February will obtain a qualification quota place for Paris for their NOC.
“The qualification for Paris for my third Olympic Games was really important,” Wellbrock said in the post-race press conference. “That was why every athlete was here to compete and every athlete tried to get the medals and tickets. I am also really proud Oli (Klemet) is also going to Paris with me.
“I am so proud of both German teams. Leonie (Beck) did an amazing job yesterday and made her step to Paris. It is so nice to be a part of a really strong open water team.”
Wellbrock led the race from the outset, capturing the lead and basically forcing everyone to fall in line behind him, much to his liking. Throughout the 10,000 meters, Wellbrock had the slowest stroke rate, and kept his breath low to not let his body position sink in the water. He dictated the pace, which was his plan from the moment he dove in.
“I love to be in the open water with the waves, but I don’t like to stick in the pack and have fights with the athletes. I really enjoy deciding where we have to go, what pace we have to go. That’s really fun for me, to be the leader for the whole race and decide what we have to do.
Wellbrock, who is also entered in the 5km on Tuesday and the 800m and 1500m freestyle next week, held steady throughout the race, turning on the jets to win by four and a half seconds over Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky and Germany’s Oliver Klemet, who were involved in a photo finish on the final chute.
Rasovszky and Klemet were stroke for stroke on the final straightaway, being sure to avoid any violations that would jeopardize their medal standing and their qualification for Paris.
Rasovszky got the final touch as Klemet hesitated to avoid any additional interference and won the bronze medal to finish two seconds after the Hungarian. With the official Olympic qualification, Rasovszky qualifies for his third Games after winning silver in the 10km in Tokyo, and 35th in the 1500m freestyle in Rio. Rasovszky is also the first Hungarian to win a medal in the 10km at the World Aquatics Championships.
“I know that I prepared really hard for this year,” Rasovszky said. “I made the Olympic qualification in the top three and today went really well. I never felt this comfortable in the water. It was one of my best races ever and no one could take me out of my comfort zone.
“I was always in the position I wanted to be and when I wanted to push a little bit more and go to the front because I felt I had more energy. I could push it and push it. Flo was a lot faster on the last lap than me but I expected that, so it was the same as the Olympics two years ago but maybe I was a little bit closer than that.”
“That was why every athlete was here to compete and every athlete tried to get the medals and tickets."
Klemet, who trains with Wellbrock with coach Bernd Berkhahn in Magdeburg, qualified for his first Olympics at age 21.
Rasovszky is also a strong pool swimmer, having already achieved the Olympic A cut for the 1500m freestyle, which would allow him to potentially secure qualification for Paris next year. With that swim already under his belt, he felt more relaxed today trying to qualify for the Olympics knowing this wasn’t the end-be-all for his chances at a third Olympics.
“I am the first one with Olympic A cut for the 1500 so I was a little bit calm with this because there’s another chance to qualify in pool swimming,” Rasovszky said. “After that swim in the 10K, I have the Olympics. Because of that there wasn’t any big pressure on me to prepare for this. I wanted to be in the first three because I have straight qualification, and not if I’m in the pool or not in the pool or in Doha next year. I have one year for the Olympics with my straight qualification and no one can bring it away from me. It’s really good.”
Rasovszky had stayed with Wellbrock throughout the race, often cutting his feeds shorter than the German to ensure he wouldn’t lose any ground coming out of the feeding stations at the start of each lap.
“I would win some meters against him (out of the feeds) and that can mean a lot in the finish if you are faster somewhere,” Rasovszky said. “When I came out of the feeding and saw I was ahead of Florian, I thought, ‘ok I am going to push it’ and I tried to make him a little more tired but it did not happen. He was really strong again. I was trying to make everything as fast as possible to have more time to swim and I was always catching up to Florian.”
The field knew that Wellbrock would dictate the pace, being one of the top distance swimmers in the pool as well, much to Klemet’s advantage as he trains with him every single day in Magdeburg.
“We wanted to make the race really fast because we are both fast guys from the pool,” Klemet said. “Kristof helped us a lot and I always could swim in a good position and that’s why I finished so fast.”
“If (Florian) starts to make the race fast, it is good for me because I have really good speed,” Klemet said, who is also entered in the 5K on Tuesday and the 400m freestyle on Saturday where he is ranked seventh in the world amongst those qualified for Worlds. “If he starts to make the race really fast, the group gets smaller and smaller, and I can swim more free and that helps me a lot.”
Klemet has benefited greatly from training in Berkhahn’s Magdeburg squad, which also includes Olympic medalist Mykhailo Romanchuk and Worlds medalist Lukas Martens. With his Olympic qualification today, it takes the pressure off him a little as the distance field in Germany is stacked with many great swimmers.
“Our long distance group is really good,” Klemet said. “We have like four people that can qualify for the final in the 800m and 1500m so the qualification for the Olympic Games in open water helps me a lot to focus on my qualification for the pool 1500 and 800 so that’s a good reason to qualify for the Olympics.”
Wellbrock is also entered in the 800 and 1500m freestyle next week, where he is a gold medal favorite in both. At last year’s World Championships, the schedule put pool swimming first with open water immediately after. This year, the schedule is reversed, with Wellbrock racing the 800m heat five days after the team relay on Thursday.
Last year, Wellbrock won silver in the 800m and bronze in the 1500m at the World Championships in Budapest. This year, he has already swum his lifetime best in the 1500m freestyle where he will be one of the five favorites to take an aim at the 11-year-old world record.
This fact is not lost on those open water swimmers racing him - the guys know Wellbrock is at the top of his game, and there is hardly any chance at running him down if he is in front of you. Rasovszky dictated his race based on where Wellbrock was, staying with him the entire time. The German was in the top two for the entirety of the 10,000 meters, with Rasovszky holding the lead for about 2,000 meters on lap four, before Wellbrock kicked it into high gear on the last two laps. As soon as the athletes finished the penultimate lap five, Wellbrock took off.
“As we all know Florian is one of the best 1500 swimmers in the world and this year he made his personal best, so on the last lap it is close to 1500 and it is not easy to beat him,” Rasovszky said. “We always try and maybe next year it is going to happen.”
And ultimately, the pace appeared too quick for the rest of the athletes. Pre-race favourite and defending champion Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy was hardly a factor in the race, finishing fifth, about a minute behind Wellbrock.
Italy’s Domenico Acerenza was fighting with Klemet in the chase pack for a while, but fell off pace to finish fourth, 16 seconds back from a medal.
Greece’s Athanasios Kynigakis (1:51:42.1) finished sixth ahead of Australia’s Nicholas Sloman (1:51:42.2) and Israel’s Matan Roditi (1:51:43.8).
Water temperature was reported to be at 25.9 degrees Celsius at the start of the race while the air temperature was at 28.5 degrees Celsius.
The open water schedule continues Tuesday with the women’s 5K starting at 8:00 a.m. and the men’s 5K beginning at 10 a.m.