Florian Wellbrock Heads 800 Free At Gothaer & Friends Meet In Magdeburg
Florian Wellbrock headed the men’s 800 free on the first day of the Gothaer and Friends meet in Magdeburg.
Wellbrock – who won 800 silver at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest – trains in the city in Saxony-Anhalt under the guidance of coach Bernd Berkhahn. He was tracked closely throughout the race by Johannes Liebmann and it wasn’t until the final 100 that he managed to put more than a second between the two of them. Wellbrock stopped the clock in 7:49.79 with Liebmann setting a German junior standard of 7:50.86. Arne Schubert was the third man home in 7:59.06.
It followed Wellbrock’s successful outing at the Swim Open Stockholm a fortnight ago. The 27-year-old posted 14:38.27 en-route to victory in the 1500 free to top the world rankings. He then went 7:41.10 for second behind Lukas Märtens in the 800 with his Germany teammate going 7:39.10 for victory.
Märtens is also competing in Magdeburg in the 100 and 200 free and 100 backstroke, two weeks after setting a 400 free WR of 3:39.86 as he lowered Paul Biedermann’s supersuited record that had stood since July 2009.
Leonie Märtens – sister of Lukas – headed the women’s 1500 free in 16:27.29 ahead of Julia Ackermann who clocked 16:42.20 with the pair the only women inside 17mins. Märtens was outside the A cut for the World Championships in Singapore.
Lars Kochmann and Maya Werner won the men’s and women’s 50 back in 27.66 and 30.00 respectively with Jonas Schwerthelm and Kellie Messel taking the 50 breast races in 28.51 and 33.30.
Luca Schöttge posted 4:27.43 for the men’s 400IM while Ewa zur Brügge was the only woman inside 5mins in the women’s in 4:58.43.