Wellbrock sets new world record as Fina Swimming Championships reach thrilling end

Florian Wellbrock made it a memorable night for Germany on the concluding day of the 15th Fina World Swimming Championships (25m) Abu Dhabi 2021. He won his nation’s first and only gold at the meeting and that too in a new world record time of 14 minutes 06.88 in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the Etihad Arena on Tuesday. Wellbrock, 24, led from the start and then pulled away from Tokyo Olympics 400m gold medallist Ahmed Hafnaoui (14:10.94) of Tunisia and Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk (14:11.47). The German arrived in Abu Dhabi having won gold in the 10km open swim and bronze in the 1,500m at Tokyo. And now, he celebrates his first gold in the short course in a new world record time. “This is my first world record and I’m very glad with my performance tonight, winning the first gold for Germany at this championships,” Wellbrock told The National . “I did the perfect race with the world record time in the short course. The plan was to get a good start. There was good speed in the race but I went easy in front and then I finished well. “I preserved my best for the final 700 metres and it all worked out very well for me. Now the big goal is Paris 2024.” Earlier, Wellbrock won the final leg of the Fina (10km) Marathon Swim World Series from Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. “I had a good preparation before this competition and had a good race in the World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Between the World Cup and tonight’s race, I haven’t raced at a high level,” he added. Hafnaoui fought well to thwart Romanchuk’s challenge for the silver. “I’m only 19 and I want to try racing over various distances,” the Tunisian said. “This was another experiment and I think I did well to take silver behind a world record time. “At the Olympics, I won gold in the 400m. I have raced over 800m and 1,500m but not at this level. I have age on my side and don’t mind trying out a few new distances ahead of Paris. “Florian is an experienced swimmer over longer distances and he was outstanding on the night. Congratulations to him.” The US began the final day’s competition by taking gold in the men’s 4X50m freestyle. They clocked 1:34.22 to finish ahead of Sweden and the Netherlands. Alessandro Miressi denied Ryan Held in the men’s 100m Freestyle. The Italian (45.57) edged out the American (45.63) with Canadian Joshua Edwards taking bronze. But Emily Escobedo made up for that by scooping the women’s 200m breaststroke title six minutes later. Escobedo (2:17.85) overcame Evgeniia Chikunova of the Russian Swimming Federation and Briton Molly Renshaw for the USA’s eighth gold at the championships. Radoslaw Kawecki (1:48.68) of Poland prevented USA's Shaine Casas from claiming gold in the men’s 200m backstroke. Christian Diener of Germany took bronze. Meanwhile, Margaret MacNeil completed a double by adding the women’s 100m butterfly title to the previous night’s win in the 50m backstroke gold. The 21-year-old clocked 55.04, beating Swede Louise Hansson and USA's Claire Curzan. The Americans weren’t done for the night as Nic Fink (25.53) claimed their ninth gold by winning the men’s 50m breaststroke race, with Italian Nicolo Martinenghi and Brazilian Joao Gomes Junior behind. Swede Sarah Sjoestroem (23.08) won the women’s 50m freestyle race as Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands and Katarzyna Wasick of Poland also made it to the podium. Also, Italy won the men’s 4X100 medley relay with USA and Russian Swimming Federation second and third. Sweden took the women’s 4X100 medley relay. USA topped the medals table with nine golds, nine silvers and 12 bronze followed by Canada (7g, 6s, 2b), Italy (5g, 5s, 6b), Russian Swimming Federation (4g ,7s ,4b) and Sweden (4g, 5s, 3b).

Wellbrock sets new world record as Fina Swimming Championships reach thrilling end

German wins 1,500m gold as USA top medals table at swimming meet in Abu Dhabi