When Gregorio Paltrinieri was asked how much he missed Florian Wellbrock after the European Championship preliminary run over 1500 meters freestyle, he laughed out loud - and replied evasively: “It's always exciting to swim against him.
And it was great fun last week. ”Praise that is all the easier if you were the winner of these three duels in the Open Water Week of the European Championships.
Wellbrock left Budapest after the open water week, the pool competitions in the indoor swimming pool in the risk area of Hungary were too risky for his trainer Bernd Berkhahn despite all the protective measures.
And so Paltrinieri does not have to deal with the rebellious Magdeburg man who screwed up his World Cup title defense in 2019 in the final on this Wednesday evening.
In the Duna Aréna's digital interview zone, Paltrinieri laughs out loud when he has questions about Wellbrock.
The 26-year-old, who was born on the island of Capri, has a pretty sunny disposition anyway.
The European title with the open water relay, for example, his third in the third start in Lake Lupa after gold over five and ten kilometers, he celebrated as if it were already the historic Olympic victory.
Different types of characters
Yes, Olympia, this is what Budapest is all about these days. And that also unites the characters Paltrinieri and Wellbrock, which are so different in character: The Italian also wants to start in Tokyo both in the pool and in the open water. Gold in both elements is the goal of both swimmers - because nobody has succeeded in that before. Wellbrock showed how it can be done two years ago at the World Cup in South Korea. At that time Wellbrock still benefited from his experience in open water. Although 1500-meter Olympic champion Paltrinieri is familiar with the tactical pitfalls of long races, like Wellbrock, he knows how to adapt intuitively to different situations. But for ten kilometers in the sea or in the lake, for the sometimes tough battles for positions, you need races, races, races.
In fact, as comparatively slim types, both of them like to stay out of the scramble anyway, leading the field shoulder to shoulder two years ago as well as last week. They also want to avoid a mass sprint at the end, in which they would have clear disadvantages compared to open water veterans such as Olympic champion Ferry Weertman or Rob Muffels from Magdeburg. But while Wellbrock managed to get his plan through to the finish line at the 2019 World Cup, this time it was Paltrinieri who broke away from the crowd so skillfully and pulled away so quickly that even 1500-meter world champion Wellbrock couldn't keep up.
His competitors also know that Paltrinieri has a high tempo, that he can swim faster for longer. And yet he was probably the biggest stranger on the Olympic ten kilometers for the German hope for a medal. Not only because Wellbrock has not competed against him since the 2019 World Cup, but also because the pool Olympic champion was determined to overcome his weaknesses before the games. In May of last year he even broke up with his long-time coach and mentor Stefano Morini to work with Fabrizio Antonelli, the coach of the Italian open water national team. Viewed in this way, Paltrinieri, although affected by Italy's strict corona regulations for months at the beginning of the pandemic, perhaps benefited most from the postponement of the 2020 Games.
Wellbrock and Paltrinieri have also not swum against each other in the pool since the 2019 World Cup. Yet they have found ways to keep themselves busy from afar. Just last month it was Paltrinieri who had set the best time of the year to date over 1500 meters in Riccione with 14: 40.38 minutes. Two weeks later, Wellbrock not only swam almost four seconds faster than Paltrinieri in Berlin, he also scratched his German record of 2018 with 14: 36.45 minutes to within three tenths of a second. His reaction right after? "Greetings to Paltrinieri." He noticed that very well, but after the European Championship run-up he did not allow himself to be carried away to declare war on Magdeburg. He said simply that he was a little tired after a busy week - and smiled.