World Championships, Day Four Finals: Ahmed Jaouadi Rockets to 800 Freestyle Title; Continues Tunisian Distance Legacy
Over the past several years, the United States’ Bobby Finke and Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen have emerged as the premier performers in the 800-meter freestyle. Corralling Olympic and world titles, as both men have done, will earn an athlete such a distinction. But on Wednesday night at the World Championships in Singapore, it was Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi who claimed the gold medal in impressive fashion.
Leading from the start, Jaouadi delivered a masterclass in the 16-lap event, prevailing in a time of 7:36.88, making him the third-fastest performer in history. In the all-time rankings, Tunisian swimmers sit second through fourth, with Ous Mellouli (7:35.27) and Ahmed Hafnaoui (7:37.00) also part of their country’s rich distance tradition.
While Jaouadi earned the gold medal, the German duo of Sven Schwarz (7:39.96) and Lukas Martens (7:40.19) finished in the silver and bronze-medal positions. The German distance ranks are stacked at the moment. Before the pool competition got underway, Florian Wellbrock won gold medals in all four open-water disciplines. Meanwhile, on the opening night in the pool, Martens was the gold medalist in the 400 freestyle.
The depth in the 800 freestyle is at an all-time high, evident in the fact that four of the eight finalists entered the final with career-best times in sub-7:40 territory. But Jaouadi had too much for his foes and put together a negative split of 3:48.92-3:47.96.
Although Jaouadi secured the biggest title of his career on Wednesday, the youngster has previously enjoyed success on the international stage. At the 2024 World Short Course Championships, Jaouadi won gold in the 1500 freestyle and was the bronze medalist in the 800 freestyle. At last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, he was fourth in the 800 free and sixth in the 1500 free.
“I knew Martens would go fast,” Jaouadi said. “He’s the 400 champion. I knew he had more speed than me. I was just trying to control the race and see what happens during the race. I saw that the rhythm wasn’t that fast, so I decided to just go and make the move. I just pushed my head down. I saw that as soon as I started to push down on my arms, I started to go faster than the others. I started to pull out. I didn’t hesitate to go faster, I just kept going faster and faster. I knew that if I had that much difference between me and the others, I wouldn’t have to go faster again. I just knew that I would win.”
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The final was dealt a blow before the athletes gathered in the ready room when Australian Sam Short was forced to withdraw due to a bout of food poisoning. The silver medalist in the 400 freestyle earlier in the week, Short qualified as the No. 2 seed in prelims of the 800 free, but took to social media to announce his impending absence. Short is the No. 4 performer in history, with a personal best of 7:37.76.
As for Finke and Wiffen, they were never in the medals conversation.
Finke is one of numerous American athletes who have battled a stomach bug that initially arose at training camp in Thailand. After qualifying as the No. 4 seed, Finke was with the leaders for the early portion of the final, but quickly fell off the pace. To his credit, Finke placed fourth, but his time of 7:46.42 was nearly eight seconds off his career best.
Meanwhile, Wiffen was eighth in 7:58.56, 20 seconds slower than his best time. Earlier in the meet, Wiffen indicated that he suffered from appendicitis in the leadup to Worlds, a medical issue that clearly affected his performance.
Martens was proud of the results for his homeland.
“Third place and second place for Germany is very, very good,” Martens said. “We have such good training groups. We have world-class athletes like (Wellbrock) in my team and he is one of the best German swimmers of all-time. I’m honored that I can train with him.”
