Florian Wellbrock of Germany, two weeks shy of his 24th birthday, won his first Olympic gold medal in the Marathon Swimming 10km event. Wellbrock won his second medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games following a bronze medal he earned on August 1st on the last day of pool swimming in the 1500m freestyle. He is the first FINA world 10km Champion to win an Olympic gold medal.
It was also the first Olympic gold medal for Germany in this event. Germany becomes the first country to hold a gold, silver and bronze medal in the men's Marathon 10km. Thomas Lurz (GER) was the bronze medalist in the inaugural event from 2008 Beijing, and he upgraded to a silver medal in London 2012.
It's hard to say that any race of nearly two hours could be easy, but Wellbrock made it look that way. Competing in his second Olympic Games, the German ace was in command of the campaign for 99% of the race. In July 2019, Wellbrock became the first swimmer to win both the 1500m freestyle event, in the pool, and the 10km open water event at the FINA World Championships in Korea. It was his first open water swimming medal in a FINA World Championships. In Rio, at his first Olympics, he finished in 32nd place in the 1500m freestyle. In Tokyo he also swam to a fourth place finish in the 800m freestyle, behind Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy who would finish 27.4 seconds behind him today.
Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky, also competing in his second Olympic Games finished 25.3 seconds behind the new Olympic champion. His medal, the first for his country in men's competition, is the second Olympic medal for his country, following Eva Risztov gold medal triumph in the London 2012 Olympic Games. At his first Olympics in Rio, Rasovszky finished in 35th place in the 1500m freestyle event. He won the 5km open water title in Yeosu at the 2019 World Championships.
Gregorio Paltrinieri claimed the first open water swimming medal for Italy by finishing in third place. Paltrinieri's push for silver was a difficult challenge and he finished 2.1 seconds behind the Hungarian swimmer. In the pool, the Italian swimmer earned a silver medal in the men's 800m freestyle event. Competing in his third Olympic Games, he swam to a fourth place finish in the 1500m freestyle event behind Wellbrock on August 1st. He finished 5th in his first Olympics in the 1500m freestyle at the London Olympics in 2012.
Wellbrock and Paltrinieri became the second and third swimmers to win a medal in the pool and also on the open water course at a single Olympic Games. Oussama Mellouli (TUN) was the first to accomplish this by winning a gold medal in the Marathon 10km and a bronze in the men's 1500m freestyle in London 2012.
The first 15 minutes of the race were entirely in control of the first open water swimmer to qualify for the Olympics. Wellbrock, the winner of the 2019 FINA World Championships set the initial pace for the two-hour clash of the titans. Twenty six men from 23 different nations were battling for the Olympic gold medal in the fourth edition of the Olympic Marathon 10km situated in the beautiful Odaiba Marine Park course. Flat water conditions prevailed, and the water temperature was 29.2, just slightly cooler than the women's race held one day earlier.
Wellbrock sprinted to the first of the four turn buoys and arrived first at the feeding station where he was able to look back at the 25 men who were following him. The 23-year-old Wellbrock from Magdeburg maintained his leadership of the race for more than 45 minutes arriving at the feeding station each of the first three times. Twenty-five year old Marc-Antoine Olivier of Montpellier, France, and the bronze medallist from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games took over the lead at the 4.3km mark. Antoine swam in Wellbrock's shadow up to that point in the race, likely expecting the German to tire himself out. The French swimmer held a slim 1.6 second over Wellbrock but within minutes there was another short-lived regime change. Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky, the winner of the 5km race in the 2019 World Championships.
Just beyond the midpoint of the race, at the 5.2km mark, Wellbrock was back in charge, Rasovszky was 4.1 seconds behind, and Olivier settled back, 8.8 seconds behind the leader. The lead pack, swimming single file, included Italian pool swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri staying close to Olivier.
Wellbrock arrived first again for his fourth visit to the feeding station while Olivier did not appear to stop for a drink. At the 7.2 km mark, Wellbrock was three seconds ahead of Rasovszky and Olivier was a half second behind the Hungarian swimmer. Closing in on the leaders was twenty-two year old Athanasios Kynigakis from Athens, Greece swimming 4.6 seconds behind the German race leader, with Paltrinieri a half second behind the Hellenic swimmer.
Wellbrock, swimming efficiently and confident, was 5.5 seconds ahead of his newest challenger at the 8.1km mark. Paltrinieri had negotiated a position just 5.5 seconds behind the German pacesetter passing Rasovszky and Olivier who were both 7.4 seconds behind. Wellbrock and Paltrinieri swam on the right side the yellow buoy while most of the others swam on the left side of the yellow buoy, and seconds later the ringing of the bell indicated the swimmers were entering the final lap of their 10km journey. At the 8.6km intermediate point, Wellbrock was 4.6 seconds ahead of Rasovszky and 13.7 seconds ahead of Paltrinieri. Olivier dropped even further back in fourth, 16.3 seconds behind the German.
The man in the while swim cap marked GER enjoyed smooth water for almost the entire race. Swimmer #12 had increased his pace before the fourth and final turn buoy, at the 9.5km. With 500m left in the race, Wellbrock was the only athlete in the television camera shot. Rasovszky was comfortably in second position 16.3 seconds behind and Paltrinieri 25 seconds back.
Wellbrock, the 2019 FINA World Champion in the 10km held in Yeosu, Korea had doubled down, winning his first Olympic gold medal after swimming the entire finish zone by himself. The sprint in between the yellow lane lines was for second place, but Rasovszky from Hungary would collect his first Olympic medal at his second Olympics. The new bronze medallist, Gregorio Paltrinieri, like Wellbrock would earn his second medal at the same Olympic Games, one each in the pool and in open water.
Olivier, the 2016 Olympic silver medallist from France finished in sixth place, 1:49.3 seconds behind the new Olympic champion. Ferry Weertman (NED), the 2016 Olympic champion finished in seventh place, 2:57.1 seconds behind the winner. Finishing in 20th place was Oussama Mellouli (TUN), the winner of the 2012 Olympic Marathon 10km race on the Serpentine in London.
FINAL RESULTS
Florian Wellbrock (GER) 1:48.33.7 - OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST
Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) +25.3 - OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALLIST
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) +27.4 - OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALLIST
QUOTES
Gold
Florian Wellbrock (GER):
“I need five minutes to realise what happened today. Crazy. Really. The first 7km was really easy. I knew that my competitors would have to work really hard behind me. The water wasn't really warm, so I kept up the pace but the last leg was horrible. The temperature today was my biggest competitor. I beat it and I beat everyone in this race.
“There were moments when Gregorio was coming closer and I worried that he could be pulling others along with him. But when I saw that it was only Gregorio there, that gave me a boost for the last two laps. I had greater confidence and I worked to make the gap even bigger.”
Silver
Kristof Rasovszky (HUN):
"I'm really happy. I came here to win a medal and it's a silver today. Florian was unbeatable, so in the last lap he was much faster than everyone else and I saw in the last 500m Gregorio was coming. I tried to push harder but I had no more speed, so I tried to be in front of him and make it impossible to get ahead of me. And I managed.
"This is the second medal for us in open water swimming after Eva Risztov won a gold medal in 2012 in London. I tried to be the second person to win a gold medal but a silver medal is also awesome.
“I expected a bit of a different race, it took some time to recognise that Florian would not just lead the pack but he wanted to go ahead as far as possible, but I managed to go after him. Perhaps the only surprise was that Gregorio didn’t come with us at the beginning. I also took the lead for a while in order to keep up that pace and make it a bit more difficult for the chasing group to catch us, but it was inevitable that they would do that at one point. I tried to reserve some energy for the last two laps and that worked, after a while it was clear who were able to hold amidst these circumstances. For me, this was not that challenging as week by week I drove to Lake Heviz for each Saturday to train in that special thermal water, which is a natural phenomenon, used for healing purposes, its temperature is at least 30 but towards the end, in early summer the water hits 34 degrees. Compared to that, I can tell you, this course was like swimming in an ice cube, at least for the first three-four rounds. So all those Saturdays prepared me for this race and I could solely focus on my swimming.
“It was demanding, it was tough, but this is open water swimming. At the end, I went for a last drink as I was like, OK, that should definitely help to go as fast as possible in the last lap.
“I am really happy to achieve this medal and I will find a suitable place for this medal, as I don't have a dedicated place right now.”
Bronze
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA):
“I was surprised at what speed Florian took out this race, he was on another planet today. I congratulated him.
“For me it was tough. I didn't arrive here in the best condition because of an infection that I had the last month, so I knew it was pretty tough for me to compete with these guys. But I'm on the podium so that's all right.
“I am very happy because these have been two difficult months for me, and my training was severely affected. I could have easily missed the opportunity to compete at the Olympics. However, I really gave my best at each of the races and I am very happy with the result. I was sure that I would struggle a bit today, but you always have to struggle.
“Which is tougher, pool races or open water races? I think its a good question but I really don't have an answer. Competition is tough in all distances. The 1500 has always been my strength but in Tokyo it was my most difficult race.
“Years go by and younger guys are coming into the discipline. In the Olympic Village, I had a long talk with with Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi (gold medal in Tokyo) who is my friend. I really feel close to him and we spent two hours chatting in his room. I am so very happy for him, despite all he went through. He says that he takes a lot from me, but I have so much to take from him. I hope he will be an example and that I can learn from him, especially from an athlete of his status.
“I don't think there are new things that I need to do, as I hope I can continue to do what I am used to. I will take a month rest and start again in September, and I will focus on what I need to do, and perhaps I will focus on another Olympics.”