In the final meters Gregorio Paltrinieri drew again. Although the qualifying for the final over 1500 meters was safe for him, the series winner on this track wanted to catch up with the young man on the track next to him. But Florian Wellbrock came in second behind Damien Joly. And thus set the course for a promising final at this European Championships in Glasgow.
30 lanes, 15 minutes of back and forth swimmers: The 1500 meter races are not only long, they are also commonly considered as particularly boring. In the mornings the halls empty themselves already before the last heats, in the evening they fill themselves sometimes only after long-distance finals. TV stations like to go in the so-called "long edges" in advertising. It would be worthwhile on this Sunday evening to turn on time - and stay tuned.
AFP
Gregorio Paltrinieri
For the athletes themselves, the training-intensive long distances bring their very own appeal to the middle or sprint tracks. If you take a closer look, the fun that the best of them have in these 15 minutes will also be obvious from the outside. How clever they act, play with their opponents. What also astonishes: Which different techniques are used by the swimmers.
While the Italian Paltrinieri plows through the water from the first train, as if he were just a sprinter, the 20-year-old Wellbrock glides through the water as calmly as if there were nothing more relaxing in the world than racing for one and a half kilometers in record speed , While Paltrinieri makes about 46 trains per lane, but it can vary its power input without changing the frequency, Wellbrock floats the 50 meters with 31 trains. "For me Paltrinieris kind would be too exhausting, I can not swim so," says the German.
In the final, in which the Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk, who has won the first lead, should take part in the lead, less obvious factors will be decisive. "It is exciting in this round that all have different strengths and weaknesses," says Wellbrock coach Bernd Berkhahn.
With 30 lanes the turns are important
Short-track European champion Romanchuk, a similarly economical swimmer as Wellbrock, gets out of the wall with a lot of power. Olympic champion Paltrinieri, however, loses at the Wenden. Wellbrock needs a certain speed to be able to bring his body to the next lane quickly, cleanly and with little energy loss.
Paltrinieri, on the other hand, usually starts his races quickly, as Wellbrock could have slipped away by two lengths after the first third of the race. "It will then be important to stay with yourself and not let another race press on you," says Berkhahn. Because: Wellbrock comes over the last 800 meters.
Wellbrock is relatively inexperienced in international pools compared to the 23-year-old Paltrinieri. And yet it was the European record holder who looked in the lead just this float next to him very carefully. Although Wellbrock swam already in the 2016 games in a final with the Italian, but there was rather a guest at Paltrinieris Gold Show.
Shoulder to shoulder - also in the final?
Then there was this swimming meeting in Stockholm, where Wellbrock not only improved his own personal best time by 15 seconds to 14: 40.69 minutes. He also broke the 27-year-old record by Jörg Hoffmann by ten seconds, catapulted into the eternal top ten of this track.
Paltrinieri and Wellbrock swam shoulder to shoulder in the lead, knowing that the final would not be in danger. Paltrinieri always pulled it on to lure Wellbrock. "For Paltrinieri it was just a question of looking: how does Florian swim?" Says Berkhahn. "And Florian was all about not showing anything, nothing at all."
At 18 o'clock CEST Paltrinieri and Wellbrock go, Joly and Romanchuk go on the 30 orbits. How they will clock, how the one drive forward and the other their forces, which promises to be great sport. How good that you can enjoy that for 15 minutes.