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Berlin (dpa) - Freestyle swimmer Florian Wellbrock set the world best time over 1500 meters and thus underpinned his good form in the Olympic year.
The 23-year-old hit on Sunday in the final qualification for the Summer Games after 14: 36.45 minutes.
He was almost four seconds faster than the Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri at his previous record in 2021. Wellbrock missed his own German record in Berlin by 30 hundredths of a second.
Wellbrock is a gold candidate for the Tokyo Olympics, which are slated to begin on July 23.
In 2019 Wellbrock won the gold medal on its parade route at the World Championships in South Korea.
He also won over ten kilometers in open water, making him the first swimmer to win an individual title in the pool and in the open water at a World Cup.
Born in Bremen from the strong Magdeburg training group of team principal Bernd Berkhahn, he was in great shape even before the races in the capital.
On April 11, the endurance specialist set a world best time of the year in 3: 44.35 minutes on its 400-meter freestyle branch.
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With Wellbrock's world record for the year, the Tokyo qualification for the German swimmers ended with an international warning sign.
In the capital, Annika Bruhn, Lucas Matzerath, Damian Wierling and Christian Diener had cracked the individual norm for the summer games at the last minute.
Wellbrock and seven other athletes have had their Tokyo ticket safe for a long time.
In the qualifying period in April, seven athletes followed suit before the competitions in Berlin.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210418-99-253906 / 2
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