Florian Wellbrock of Germany, two weeks shy of his 24th birthday, won his first Olympic gold medal in the Marathon Swimming 10km event. Wellbrock won his second medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following a bronze medal he earned on August 1st on the last day of pool swimming in the 1500m freestyle. He is the first FINA world 10km Champion to win an Olympic gold medal.
It was also the first Olympic gold
medal for Germany in this event. Germany becomes the first country to hold a
gold, silver and bronze medal in the men's Marathon 10km. Thomas Lurz (GER) was
the bronze medalist in the inaugural event from 2008 Beijing, and he upgraded
to a silver medal in London 2012.
It's hard to say that any race of
nearly two hours could be easy, but Wellbrock made it look that way. Competing
in his second Olympic Games, the German ace was in command of the campaign for
99% of the race. In July 2019, Wellbrock became the first swimmer to win both
the 1500m freestyle event, in the pool, and the 10km open water event at the
FINA World Championships in Korea. It was his first open water swimming medal
in a FINA World Championships. In Rio, at his first Olympics, he finished in
32nd place in the 1500m freestyle. In Tokyo he also swam to a fourth place
finish in the 800m freestyle, behind Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy who would
finish 27.4 seconds behind him today.
Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky, also
competing in his second Olympic Games finished 25.3 seconds behind the new
Olympic champion. His medal, the first for his country in men's competition, is
the second Olympic medal for Hungary following Eva Risztov gold medal triumph
in the London 2012 Olympic Games. At his first Olympics in Rio, Rasovszky
finished in 35th place in the 1500m freestyle event. He won the 5km open water
title in Yeosu at the 2019 World Championships.
Gregorio Paltrinieri claimed the
first open water swimming medal for Italy by finishing in third place.
Paltrinieri's push for silver was a difficult challenge and he finished 2.1
seconds behind the Hungarian swimmer. In the pool, the Italian swimmer earned a
silver medal in the men's 800m freestyle event. Competing in his third Olympic
Games, he swam to a fourth place finish in the 1500m freestyle event behind
Wellbrock on August 1st. He finished 5th in his first Olympics in the 1500m
freestyle at the London Olympics in 2012.
Wellbrock and Paltrinieri became the
second and third swimmers to win a medal in the pool and also on the open water
course at a single Olympic Games. Oussama Mellouli (TUN) was the first to
accomplish this by winning a gold medal in the Marathon 10km and a bronze in
the men's 1500m freestyle in London 2012.
The first 15 minutes of the race were
entirely in control of the first open water swimmer to qualify for the
Olympics. Wellbrock, the winner of the 2019 FINA World Championships set the
initial pace for the two-hour clash of the titans. Twenty six (26) men from 23
different nations were battling for the Olympic gold medal in the fourth
edition of the Olympic Marathon 10km situated in the beautiful Odaiba Marine
Park course. Flat water conditions prevailed, and the water temperature was
29.2, just slightly cooler than the women's race held one day earlier.
Wellbrock sprinted to the first of
the four turn buoys and arrived first at the feeding station where he was able
to look back at the 25 men who were following him. The 23-year-old Wellbrock
from Magdeburg maintained his leadership of the race for more than 45 minutes
arriving at the feeding station each of the first three times. Twenty-five year
old Marc-Antoine Olivier of Montpellier, France, and the bronze medallist from
the 2016 Rio Olympic Games took over the lead at the 4.3km mark. Antoine swam
in Wellbrock's shadow up to that point in the race, likely expecting the German
to tire himself out. The French swimmer held a slim 1.6 second over Wellbrock
but within minutes there was another short-lived regime change. Hungary's
Kristof Rasovszky, the winner of the 5km race in the 2019 World Championships.
Just beyond the midpoint of the race,
at the 5.2km mark, Wellbrock was back in charge, Rasovszky was 4.1 seconds
behind, and Olivier settled back, 8.8 seconds behind the leader. The lead pack,
swimming single file, included Italian pool swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri
staying close to Olivier.
Wellbrock arrived first again for his
fourth visit to the feeding station while Olivier did not appear to stop for a
drink. At the 7.2 km mark, Wellbrock was three seconds ahead of Rasovszky and
Olivier was a half second behind the Hungarian swimmer. Closing in on the
leaders was twenty-two year old Athanasios Kynigakis from Athens, Greece
swimming 4.6 seconds behind the German race leader, with Paltrinieri a half
second behind the Hellenic swimmer.
Wellbrock, swimming efficiently and
confident, was 5.5 seconds ahead of his newest challenger at the 8.1km mark.
Paltrinieri had negotiated a position just 5.5 seconds behind the German
pacesetter passing Rasovszky and Olivier who were both 7.4 seconds behind.
Wellbrock and Paltrinieri swam on the right side the yellow buoy while most of
the others swam on the left side of the yellow buoy, and seconds later the
ringing of the bell indicated the swimmers were entering the final lap of their
10km journey. At the 8.6km intermediate point, Wellbrock was 4.6 seconds ahead
of Rasovszky and 13.7 seconds ahead of Paltrinieri. Olivier dropped even
further back in fourth, 16.3 seconds behind the German.
The man in the while swim cap marked
GER enjoyed smooth water for almost the entire race. Swimmer #12 had increased
his pace before the fourth and final turn buoy, at the 9.5km. With 500m left in
the race, Wellbrock was the only athlete in the television camera shot.
Rasovszky was comfortably in second position 16.3 seconds behind and
Paltrinieri 25 seconds back.
Wellbrock, the 2019 FINA World
Champion in the 10km held in Yeosu, Korea had doubled down, winning his first
Olympic gold medal after swimming the entire finish zone by himself. The sprint
in between the yellow lane lines was for second place, but Rasovszky from
Hungary would collect his first Olympic medal at his second Olympics. The new
bronze medallist, Gregorio Paltrinieri, like Wellbrock would earn his second
medal at the same Olympic Games, one each in the pool and in open water.
Olivier, the 2016 Olympic silver
medallist from France finished in sixth place, 1:49.3 seconds behind the new
Olympic champion. Ferry Weertman (NED), the 2016 Olympic champion finished in
seventh place, 2:57.1 seconds behind the winner. Finishing in 20th place was
Oussama Mellouli (TUN), the winner of the 2012 Olympic Marathon 10km race on
the Serpentine in London.
FINAL RESULTS
Florian Wellbrock (GER) 1:48.33.7 -
OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST
Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) +25.3 -
OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) +27.4 -
OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALLIST
Read FINA President Captain Husain
Al-Musallam's message here https://www.fina.org/news/2207016/congratulations-to-all-our-fantastic-marathon-swimmers
Michael Phelps Teaches Swimming
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