Florian Wellbrock remained almost motionless in the pool while his competitors celebrated their medals next to him. The 23-year-old blew through a few times and struggled with his fourth place. “In itself, I've sold myself well. It's just fourth place that is annoying, ”said the freestyle swimmer after a thrilling medal fight at the Olympic premiere of the 800 meter race. Wellbrock's time of 7: 42.68 minutes was just not enough for bronze and thus the second precious metal for the German pool swimmers in Tokyo after third place for Wellbrock's fiancée Sarah Köhler the day before.
"Today wasn't bad in itself," Wellbrock rightly stated.
"7.42 is still the second fastest time a German has ever swum." For him, it would "probably be nicer" if he had finished fifth.
Wellbrock's brilliant national record of 7: 41.77 minutes from the run-up would have been enough for gold on Thursday.
So 35 hundredths of a second were missing on bronze.
On the day of the last race on the very big stage of intermediate swimmer Philip Heintz and a relay world record, the American Robert Finke somewhat surprisingly secured the Olympic victory in Wellbrock's race.
The 21-year-old put in an impressive final spurt.
Silver went to Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy, and bronze went to the Ukrainian Michailo Romantschuk.
"Tick too hard and too early"
Paltrinieri, who suffered from glandular fever in preparation, started the race quickly and was in the lead for a long time.
Wellbrock caught up, however, and went first on the last 50 meters.
National coach Bernd Berkhahn could not sit next to the pool for a long time.
"Normally I should have the Paltrinieri under control for the last 50, I didn't have that today, which makes the whole thing a bit more annoying," said Wellbrock of his competitor, with whom he regularly exchanges ideas.
He may have increased the pace a "tick too hard" or "a tick too early", said Wellbrock and suspected this to be the "sticking point".
Fourth place "hurts of course".
Two years after his historic double success at the 2019 World Cup in South Korea, when Wellbrock won gold in open water over ten kilometers and over 1500 meters freestyle within a few days, he did not succeed in the hoped-for start in Japan. But the Bremen native was far from resignation despite all his disappointment. With a white towel over his shoulder, he was in a hurry to get to the swim. Wellbrock tried to see the positive.
In the 800 meter freestyle he was eliminated in the preliminary stages of the triumphant World Championships in Gwangju - this time Wellbrock made it confidently into the final. He had shown "that after a not so good race the 1500 can still be very, very good," he said in remembrance. “Then I have to throw everything in again.” Wellbrock is rated even more strongly over the longest Olympic pool distance and in open water.
Unlike Wellbrock, Heintz's Olympic career ended this morning (local time) in the Tokyo Aquatics Center. The 30-year-old did not make it to the finals as 13th of the semi-finals in 1: 58.13 minutes. “That was definitely the last race for me on the big stage,” said the 30-year-old and, looking back on his career, summed up: “It was very, very nice, I would do it again anytime.” The German freestyle - Women took sixth place over 4 x 200 meters. The Chinese winning quartet set a world record in 7: 40.33 minutes.
Caeleb Dressel did not succeed in his victory in the 100 meter freestyle. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old celebrated his first individual gold medal at the Summer Games in an Olympic best time of 1: 47.02 minutes with his fingers stretched upwards on the leash in the pool. The Australian Izaac Stubblety-Cook won gold over 200 meters breaststroke, and Chinese Zhang Yufei won over 200 meters butterfly in the women’s category.