The shape is right, the World Cup can come: With the power and self-confidence of the Olympic champion, Florian Wellbrock has impressively confirmed his top international condition. At the European Championships in Kazan, the 24-year-old freestyle swimmer confidently grabbed the 1500 meter title and won gold for the first time at a major event on the 25 meter track. At the end he let silver follow in a gripping duel with permanent competitor Gregorio Paltrinieri over 800 meters. For gold, the tiniest five hundredths of a second was missing in the German record time of 7: 27.99 minutes on the Italian.
Wellbrock clapped Fairly after the swimming show on Sunday with Paltrinieri and blew hard a few times. “You really can't complain at the time,” said Wellbrock. “It was a really fast race. That's why I can go out here today with my head held high and be very, very satisfied with the race itself. ”His conclusion about the EM:“ It was really fun. ”
In addition to Wellbrock, his Magdeburg team colleague Isabel Gose and Sven Schwarz from Hanover also shone with two precious metals each at the continental showdown.
Thanks to the three guarantees of success in Russia, the German team flies home with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
Two years ago in Glasgow there had been gold once, silver five times and bronze twice.
Back then, Marco Koch was third over 200 meters chest.
This time, as sixth, he had nothing to do with the medal award.
The other German swimmers in the overall young team were also unable to keep up with the front runners.
Wellbrock's test for the World Cup
For Wellbrock, the European Championship was also a test for the World Championship from December 16-21 in Abu Dhabi. The Olympic champion over ten kilometers in open water and Tokyo bronze winner over 1500 meters in the pool also wants to establish himself among the world's best on the short course - so he got off to a good start. In 14: 09.88 minutes he also set a German record over 1500 meters for his title and defeated Paltrinieri with ease.
In addition to the currently best German swimmer, the two 19-year-olds Gose and Schwarz also impressed. Freestyle swimmer Schwarz was surprised and enthusiastic himself after his strong bronze race at Wellbrock's victory. In the 800 meter race, he showed his strong final sprint qualities again and came third again. The Hanoverian, whom Wellbrock recognized as "one of the young and wild ones", had to fight a corona infection in the spring and missed the Olympic Games. All the greater was his joy now.
Gose had already attracted attention at the Olympics with sixth place in the 400 meter freestyle. In Russia, she was able to celebrate twice the distance with bronze, before finishing third again on an unusually stressful Sunday for her. “I was just so happy looking at the scoreboard,” she said after the 400 meter race. Less than 30 minutes earlier, Gose had finished seventh over 200 meters. "If I hadn't had a race after that, I would probably have started crying," she said and was able to laugh about it after the subsequent success.
Internationally, the Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo set standards with three titles and a world record over 50 meters butterfly in 21.75 seconds.
On the final day, Ilya Schymanowitsch from Belarus also set a world record over 50 meters in 25.25 seconds.