Florian Wellbrock (born 19 August 1997) is a German competitiveswimmer. He is the world record holder in theshort course1500 metre freestyle. He is an Olympic champion, multiple World Champion and European champion, in bothlong and short courses. At the2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold in the10 kilometre open water and bronze in the1500 metre freestyle. In total, Wellbrock has won 28 medals at international competitions of which 20 are gold. This includes his gold medal at the Olympic games, six at the World Championships, six at theSwimming World Cup and six at the Open Water Swimming World Cup.[citation needed]
At the age of 17, Wellbrock competed in his first international competition as part of the German mixed 4×100 metre relay team at the 17thLuxembourg Euro Meet.[citation needed]
In 2016, Wellbrock attended the 18th Luxembourg Euro Meet, where he placed seventh in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 15:27.19.[2][better source needed]
In May 2016, Wellbrock returned to theGerman Swimming Championships (long course), where he set a new personal best of 14:55.49. This time broke the under-20 age group record, put him in the top ten 1500 metre freestyle swimmers in that year, and qualified him for the2016 Summer Olympics.[3][4] The time was just over 5 seconds off the German national record set byJorg Hoffman in 1991, which was aworld record at the time.[3]
At the2016 Summer Olympics, Wellbrock swam in the heats of the1500 metres freestyle, where he finished with a time of 15:23.88 which was just under 30 seconds slower than his personal best set around 3 months earlier.[5][6][7] This time did not qualify him for the final.
19 days after his Olympic debut, Wellbrock returned to competition at day two of the2016 FINA World Cup in Berlin, where he again finished first in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 14:35.79.[8][9]
Wellbrock qualified to represent Germany at the2020 Summer Olympics, held inTokyo,Japan and postponed to summer of 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[13] His first medal of the Olympic Games was in the1500 metre freestyle, where he won the bronze medal.[14] Wellbrock also won a gold medal in the10 kilometre open water swim a few days later with a time of 1:48:33.7, which was over 25 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.[15] His gold medal was the first won in the event at an Olympic Games by a swimmer representing Germany.[14] His Olympic medals in pool swimming and open water swimming marked the second time a swimmer won medals in both disciplines at one Olympic Games and he was closely followed by the third swimmer to do so,Gregorio Paltrinieri ofItaly who also won a medal in each discipline at the 2020 Summer Olympics only Gregorio Paltrinieri won his second medal, a bronze medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim, seconds after Welllbrock and thus Wellbrock became the second swimmer in history to achieve the feat and Gregorio Paltrinieri the third.[16]
At the2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships, held at thePalace of Water Sports inKazan,Russia, Wellbrock won a gold medal in the 1500 metre freestyle on 4 November with a time of 14:09.88.[17] On 7 November, Wellbrock won the silver medal in the 800 metre freestyle in 7:27.99, finishing five-hundredths of a second behind gold medalist in the event Gregorio Paltrinieri.[18]
At theAbu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in parallel with the2021 World Short Course Championships, in December 2021, Wellbrock won a bronze medal as part of the open water 4×1500 metre mixed relay event.[19] In his individual event, the 10 kilometre open water swim, Wellbrock won the gold medal in a time of 1:48:09.4, finishing over two seconds ahead of silver medalistDomenico Acerenza ofItaly.[20] As part of the World Championships, Wellbrock swam a 14:25.79 in the prelims heats of the1500 metre freestyle on 20 December, qualifying for the final the following day ranking third.[21] In the final of the 1500 metre freestyle, Wellbrock set a newworld record with a time of 14:06.88 and won the gold medal.[22][23][24] Wellbrock also co-hosted a swimming clinic at the venue of the World Championships,Etihad Arena, withAnthony Ervin of theUnited States.[25]
