Florian Wellbrock

Florian Wellbrock (born 19 August 1997) is a German competitive swimmer. He is the world record holder in the short course 1500 metre freestyle. He is an Olympic champion, multiple World Champion and European champion, in both long and short courses. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold in the 10 kilometre open water and bronze in the 1500 metre freestyle. In total, Wellbrock has won 28 medals at international competitions of which 20 are gold. This includes his gold medal at the Olympic games, six at the World Championships, six at the Swimming World Cup and six at the Open Water Swimming World Cup.

Career At the age of 17, Wellbrock competed in his first international competition as part of the German mixed 4×100 metre relay team at the 17th Luxembourg Euro Meet.

In 2016, Wellbrock attended the 18th Luxembourg Euro Meet, where he placed seventh in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 15:27.19.

2016 Rio Olympics In May 2016, Wellbrock returned to the German Swimming Championships (long course), where he set a new personal best of 14:55.49. This time broke the under-20 age group record, put him in the top ten 1500 metre freestyle swimmers in that year, and qualified him for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The time was just over 5 seconds off the German national record set by Jorg Hoffman in 1991, which was a world record at the time. This time did not qualify him for the final.

2016–2020 19 days after his Olympic debut, Wellbrock returned to competition at day two of the 2016 FINA World Cup in Berlin, where he again finished first in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 14:35.79.

At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first swimmer to win both the 1500m freestyle and the 10 km open-water race at an international competition. Wellbrock won the 10 kilometre open water swim in 1:47:55.90 with the silver and bronze medalists finishing within two seconds of his time.

2020 Summer Olympics

Wellbrock qualified to represent Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo, Japan and postponed to summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His first medal of the Olympic Games was in the 1500 metre freestyle, where he won the bronze medal. Wellbrock also won a gold medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim a few days later with a time of 1:48:33.7, which was over 25 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. His gold medal was the first won in the event at an Olympic Games by a swimmer representing Germany.

2021–present At the 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships, held at the Palace of Water Sports in Kazan, Russia, Wellbrock won a gold medal in the 1500 metre freestyle on 4 November with a time of 14:09.88. On 7 November, Wellbrock won the silver medal in the 800 metre freestyle in 7:27.99, finishing five-hundredths of a second behind gold medalist in the event Gregorio Paltrinieri.

At the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in parallel with the 2021 World Short Course Championships, in December 2021, Wellbrock won a bronze medal as part of the open water 4×1500 metre mixed relay event. In his individual event, the 10 kilometre open water swim, Wellbrock won the gold medal in a time of 1:48:09.4, finishing over two seconds ahead of silver medalist Domenico Acerenza of Italy. As part of the World Championships, Wellbrock swam a 14:25.79 in the prelims heats of the 1500 metre freestyle on 20 December, qualifying for the final the following day ranking third. In the final of the 1500 metre freestyle, Wellbrock set a new world record with a time of 14:06.88 and won the gold medal. Wellbrock also co-hosted a swimming clinic at the venue of the World Championships, Etihad Arena, with Anthony Ervin of the United States.

With Europeans swimmers permitted to compete in the open water events at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Wellbrock won gold in the 10 km event.

Awards and honours FINA, Top 10 Moments: 2020 Summer Olympics (#9 for winning the first gold medal of his Olympic career in the 10 kilometre open water swim as a 23-year-old) FINA, Athlete of the Year, open water swimming (male): 2021 Swimming World, Open Water Swimmer of the Year (male): 2019, 2021 SwimSwam, Swammy Award, Open Water Swimmer of the Year (male): 2019, 2021 SwimSwam, Top 100 (Men's): 2021 (#18), 2022 (#11) LEN, Best Open Water Swimmer (Male): 2021

Personal life Wellbrock married Sarah Köhler of Germany in January 2022 after getting engaged in December 2020.