Florian Wellbrock Flirts With German Record in 1500 Freestyle; Looks Strong For Tokyo

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Florian Wellbrock Flirts With German Record in 1500 Freestyle; Looks Strong For Tokyo

The final day of the German Olympic Trials was highlighted by Florian Wellbrock’s flirtation with his own national record in the 1500 freestyle. The reigning world champion in the event, Wellbrock put together a 30-lap performance of 14:36.45. That time followed up on a triumph in the 400 freestyle and was just off Wellbrock’s German record of 14:36.15.

Less than 100 days out from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Wellbrock looks to be on the verge of medal contention in all three distance-freestyle disciplines, although his best opportunities certainly will be found in the 800 freestyle and the 1500 free. He is easily the top medal hopeful for Tokyo from among the German contingent.

Sarah Kohler, like Wellbrock a contender for an Olympic medal in distance action, prevailed in the women’s 800 freestyle, as her outing of 8:23.82 easily held off the 8:31.94 of Isabel Gose. Kohler and Gose are also qualified for Tokyo in the 400 freestyle.

Jacob Heidtmann backed up his gold in the 400 individual medley with a title in the 200 medley, his time of 1:59.56 the only effort under the two-minute barrier. In the men’s 200 breaststroke, veteran Marco Koch recorded a time of 2:10.28 to narrowly edge the 2:10.63 of Maximilian Pilger, who touched the wall in 2:10.63. The women’s 200 breast went to Kim Herkle in 2:25.40, with Bente Fischer following in 2:25.90.

In other action, Christian Diener (1:59.46) and Jenny Mensing (2:11.71) claimed victories in the 200 backstroke, although Diener was quicker in the preliminaries with a mark of 1:56.99.

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