European Swimming Championships in Rome
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Märtens “tasted blood” – Wellbrock “a bit confused”
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Lukas Märtens won silver in the 800 meter freestyle at the European Swimming Championships in Rome.
Photo: dpa/JoKleindl
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Rom Lukas Märtens has no time to celebrate after his silver coup, but has his eye on more medals. Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock will start on Monday – with great uncertainty.
When his club colleagues Lukas Märtens and Isabel Gose briefly celebrated their silver double and were already aiming for further medals, Florian Wellbrock allowed himself a bit of distance and went to eat with his parents in Rome. The Olympic champion enters the European Swimming Championships late and unsure – his young training partners have long since arrived. “There’s definitely still a lot to do,” Märtens announced confidently after second place in the 800 m freestyle, with a view to his other races.
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“Now he has tasted blood and wants to test himself,” said national coach Bernd Berkhahn about the 20-year-old, who jumped into the breach after Wellbrock’s failure to start and repeated his girlfriend’s success from the previous day on the same route with the same result. Congratulations and applause from the teammates – that’s all there was for the Magdeburg couple, both immediately went on a medal hunt over 200 m: Gose crawled into the final as the second fastest, Märtens into the semi-finals as fifth. And they are also among the favorites over 400 m.
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Wellbrock, on the other hand, celebrated a small victory. The stress test before the start on Monday morning over 1500 m was “very good”, reported Berkhahn, “he felt extremely good.” A corona infection immediately after the World Championships in Budapest, where he was the first German swimmer in 40 years seven weeks ago won five medals threw the double world champion completely off track. Since then he has been trying to catch up on the training deficit – with varying degrees of success. “It’s not quite slipping yet,” he stated. According to Berkhahn, the shape curve was “always up and down”.
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The last test is encouraging, “it should actually fit,” said his coach. Because Wellbrock definitely doesn’t want to miss out on the special atmosphere in the Foro Italico. “I want to start in this great open-air arena with the Italian public who are enthusiastic about swimming,” emphasized the 24-year-old.
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Wellbrock is still torn. “On the one hand, the uncertainty, what can I actually do, and on the other hand, this backdrop, of course I want to perform here,” reported Berkhahn, “it’s now a bit confused in the athlete’s soul, it’s the same with Flo.” However, the open water Olympic champion does not want to put himself under much pressure: “I showed what I can do at the World Championships. Everything that comes now is on top.”
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The Magdeburger and his trainer will decide what comes next after the preliminary heat. “Then we’ll know more, then we can steer better and see what’s possibly in it,” said Berkhahn, who left the starts in the sea at the Lido di Ostia open from Thursday.
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