Singapore 2025: Wellbrock takes men’s world title and Taddeucci leads women’s European charge in thrilling 10km battles

Europe’s open‑water specialists made their mark in sweltering conditions off Sentosa Island on Wednesday, capturing four of the six medals on offer in the 10 km at the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore.

In brutally hot and humid conditions, it was Germany’s Florian Wellbrock who produced a masterclass in pace control and tactical racing to reclaim the men’s world title. He led home a stellar European performance, with Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri taking silver in a thrilling duel, and Germany’s Oliver Klemet narrowly missing the podium in a heartbreaking finish.

The German asserted his dominance from the outset – surging to the front in and steadily extending his lead through the middle kilometres, before being embroiled in a showdown final‑lap with the Paltrinieri to touch in 1:59:55.50, just 3.7 seconds clear of the veteran, who now has 17 medals across both pool and open water races.

Germany’s Oliver Klemet, meanwhile, was quietly playing the long game. After falling into the main pack on the first lap, he moved up through the field during laps two and three, placing himself firmly in the lead pack by the halfway point. With just a quarter of the race to go, he was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the two leaders, and the other non-Europeans in the mix. It was turning into a three-way European push for medals, with the added threat of Australia’s Kyle Lee biding his time behind.

The race reached a boiling point around the 8km mark. It was here that Paltrinieri attempted to ramp up the pressure, upping his tempo and attempting to draw level before the final buoy turn. Wellbrock, however, remained unfazed. As both swimmers turned for the final 1.66km lap, the German dug into his reserves, producing a flawless closing stretch.

Paltrinieri launched his finishing sprint in the final 500 metres, closing to within touching distance, but Wellbrock responded with calm authority. “I knew Greg [Paltrinieri] was on my feet all the time”, Wellbrock said to World Aquatics. “In the last lap, I saw it was Ollie [Klemet] and Greg on my back. It’s so dangerous when they’re so close, especially Greg – he always has such a great finish. I was really nervous and tried to push all the time.”

Klemet finished just 0.1 seconds behind Australia’s Kyle Lee on a time of 2:00:10.4, as he narrowly missed out on adding a third World Championships medal to his collection,

Meanwhile, Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci and Monaco’s Lisa Pou powered to silver and bronze in the women’s event – with the latter athlete taking her first ever World Championship medal.

Under equally punishing waves and 30 °C water as the temperature rose from the men’s races, the women’s race saw a number of changes of position and charges through the packs as the race developed. Pou set the pace through the first lap, but gradually ceded control to Taddeucci, who bided her time mid‑pack before striking with authority around the eighth kilometre, opening a gap that proved unbridgeable to those behind her, but still too far back to challenge Australia’s Moesha Johnson, who eventually took victory.

Despite the return challenge from Spain’s Maria de Valdes and Angela Martinez Guillen, Taddeucci’s smooth stroke and unwavering focus saw her home in 2:07:55.70 for silver – the first individual world‑championship medal of her career – and Pou’s late surge clinched Monaco’s first-ever medal at a World Aquatics Championships with a time of 2:07:57.50

The Spanish pairing of de Valdes and Guillen took fourth and fifth respectively, as a total of six European athletes in the top-ten.

With four medals already secured, Europe will look to extend its haul with the 5km events, mixed relay and 3km knockout sprints to come through to Sunday.

Click here for the full schedule and results.

Click here to watch live on Eurovision Sport.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics

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