Singapore 2025: Wellbrock wins third open water title in new knockout race and Taddeucci adds third silver
Germany’s Florian Wellbrock became the first open water swimmer to win three individual events at a World Aquatics Championships as he won the newly-established 3km knockout race following his earlier victories in the 10km and 5km races.
On another day of European domination in this sport at the Singapore venue the 27-year-old Tokyo 2020 10km champion secured his 13th world medal across pool and open water swimming as he finished 1.70sec ahead of Hungary’s Paris 2024 bronze medallist David Betlehem.
France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier earned third place, 7.80 clear of Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri.
In the earlier women’s final Paltrinieri’s 28-year-old compatriot Ginevra Taddeucci, the Olympic bronze medallist, won her third silver of the Championships as she finished 2.00 behind home Japan’s surprise winner Ichika Kajimoto.
Bronze was shared by Hungary’s Bettina Fabian and Australia’s Paris 2024 silver medallist Moesha Johnson.
In this newly-established event, a total of 61 men and 56 women raced over 1500m in heats, with the top 10 in each advancing to race in heats over 1000. The top 10 finishers from that heat competed in a winner-take-all 500m.
“David and me, our finish was incredible,” Wellbrock told World Aquatics. “He told me before the start ‘let’s go for gold and silver’ and we did it.
“To be a good open water swimmer, you need the speed from the pool. We can use this speed for the final 500m, and that’s so nice. It’s so amazing. It wasn’t my goal to come here for three golds, but it’s so nice to be on top of the podium three times in a row.”
After winning his first individual world medal Betlehem, 21, said he had been “a bit happy” to see Germany’s Paris 2024 silver medallist Oliver Klemet go out in the semi-finals, adding: “I mentioned I wanted to win a medal yesterday but I didn’t get it. I came here to win five medals for all my events and I missed the 10km and the 5km so I knew for this event, I needed to get into it and get the medal in the knockout.”
Olivier, who has been competing at the World Aquatics Championships since Kazan 2015, said after winning his eighth world medal: “It’s very important and means a lot to me now because I am a dad.
“My wife gave birth to our baby 10 days before the start of this event. It’s very emotionally difficult to come here as I can’t see my wife and the baby back in France. But my job is to swim and win medals, and I did my job today.”
Hungary’s Olympic champion Kristof Rasovszky finished sixth overall, 30sec back.
At the end of a keenly-contested women’s race, Taddeucci commented: “This really isn’t my race, normally I’m slower and prefer longer distance swimming like the 5km swim. I’m not very fast in such short sprints but I’m very happy with where I finished.”
Fabian said: “The last 500m was like the fastest I’ve ever swam in my entire life. The last 150 metres were horrific!
“Everyone was swimming next to each other trying to control our strokes, someone was trying to push me behind them and in the last five metres I think the strongest-minded person was able to touch the panel first.
“And I was very happy that Moesha and I were both in third place.”
Lea Boy made a late bid for a second individual world medal but she finished tied for fifth with fellow German Isabel Gose, just two tenths off the podium.
Open water swimming concludes at these Championships tomorrow with the mixed 4x1500m relay.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
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