In a repeat of competition in extremely high (30.2°C/86°F) water and air temperatures, the men’s 5 km race at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships on Sentosa Island in Singapore saw the results as the 10 km race on Wednesday.

It was a bit closer – as can be expected in a race half as long – but Florian Wellbrock (27, Germany, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @flo.swim) was just too much for the field, although Gregorio Paltrinieri  (30, Italy, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @greg_palt) gave me a battle until the end.

After surprisingly uncharacteristic non-podium finishes in the World Championships and Olympics in 2024, Wellbrock returned to the top after World Championship gold medal swims in the 2022 5 km race, the 2023 5 km race, the 2023 10 km race, and the 2025 10 km races. His schedule at the World Championships is not over: he still has the 800m and 1500m preliminary heat and finals left in the pool.

Distance freestylers proved why they have to train hard and long, especially in the open water where they never quite know what Mother Nature has in store for them. “I didn’t expect [this gold medal] because I felt really tired after the 10 km and we had just like 24 hours to recover. But luckily, everybody was tired because everybody competed in the 10 km before. With these conditions, it’s tough because the human body isn’t made for racing in 30°C water.”

While the pack were tapping on his feet on the second of three loops, Wellbrock had enough in him to pull away and win by nearly 3 seconds over Paltrinieri – who similarly has the most extreme schedule as his German rival at these world championships: the 10 km, 5 km, 3 km Knockout Sprints, 6 km Mixed Relays, 800m freestyle, and 1500m freestyle.

If such an award were given at these World Championships, Paltrinieri would definitely win the Total Grit Award. He is competing with two injuries: one to his shoulder and a broken finger. “It was a tough race, even tougher than the 10 km race the other day because everyone was so close in terms of times. I was really tired today, my finger was hurt from the start and I lost the medical tape on my finger, so it was really challenging.”

Bronze medalist Marc-Antoine Olivier (29, France, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here) was happy with today’s results, but like many others, also knows what is in store, “Now I need to recuperate because tomorrow is the [3 km] knockout [sprints], so I need to be focused to win the competition and take the necessary preparations.

He and 32 other men and 30 women have less than 24 hours to rest and recover.

5 km and 10 km medalists, including Moesha Johnson (27, Australia, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @swimmer_moe), Ginevra Taddeucci (28, Italy, MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @ginevrataddeucci), Ichika Kajimoto (21, Japan, World Aquatics bio here, @chika_0307), Olivier, and Paltrinieri will also be competing in the new 3 km Knockout Sprints.

Men’s 5 km Final Results

1. Florian Wellbrock, 27, Germany 57:26.40
2. Gregorio Paltrinieri, 30, Italy 57:29.30
3. Marc-Antoine Olivier, 29, France 57:30.40
4. Marcello Guidi, 28, Italy 57:32.30
5. Denis Adeev, 27, Neutral Country B 57:37.20
6. David Betlehem, 21, Hungary 57:37.20
7. Kyle Lee, 23, Australia 57:39.60
8. Luca Karl, 23, Austria 57:42.00
9. Oliver Klemet, 23 Germany 57:42.20
10. Thomas Edward Raymond, 22, Australia 57:47.20
11. Paul Niederberer, 21, Switzerland 58:03.90
12. Matheus Melecchi, 19, Brazil 58:04.60
13. Eric Georges Brown, 22, Canada 58:08.60
14. Kristóf Rasovszky, 28, Hungary 58:08.80
15. Martin Straka, 24, Czech Republic 58:12.50
16. Ratthawit Thammananthachote, 22, Thailand 58:13.70
17. Dylan Gravley, 22, USA 58:15.90
18. Athanasios Kynigakis, Greece 58:24.30
19. Sacha Velly, 20, France 58:24.30
20. Ivan Puskovitch, 24, USA 1:00:26.30
21. Christian Schreiber, 23, Switzerland 1:00:27.70
22. Piotr Wozniak, Poland 1:00:31.60
23. Esteban Enderica Salgado, 34, Ecuador 1:00:56.00
24. Jinhou Zhang, 22, China 1:00:56.00
25. Kaito Tsujimori, 19, Japan 1:01:00.20
26. Tianchen Lan, 20, China 1:01:01.80
27. Lev Cherepanov, 24, Kazakhstan 1:01:03.80
28. Jaehun Park, 25, South Korea 1:01:03.90
29. Saveliy Luzin, 19, Neutral Country B 1:01:04.90
30. Diogo Cardoso, 24, Portugal 1:01:06.70
31. Ronaldo Eduardo Zambrano Sanchez, 23, Venezuela 1:01:08.90
32. David Farinango, 24, Ecuador 1:01:09.20
33. Bartosz Kapala, 18, Poland 1:01:21.90
34. Sebeom Oh, 22, South Korea 1:01:22.40
35. Matthew Caldwell,19, South Africa 1:01:23.80
36. Diego Vera, 29, Venezuela 1:01:24.00
37. Diego Obele Cisneros, 23, Mexico 1:01:24.00
38. Connor Buck, 22, South Africa 1:01:26.30
39. Riku Takaki, 20, Japan 1:01:26.90
40. Logan VanHuys, 28, Belgium 1:02:10.50
41. Adrian Gustavo Ywanaga Papi, 20, Peru 1:02:15.40
42. Jamarr Andre Bruno, 20, Puerto Rico 1:02:40.80
43. Jose Barrios, 17, Guatemala 1:02:41.20
44. Atakan Ercan, 18, Turkey 1:02:41.20
45. Diego Dulieu, 20 Honduras 1:02:41.90
46. Bo Ling Su, 14, Chinese Taipei 1:02:42.10
47. Konstantinos Chourdakis, 16, Greece 1:02:43.10
48. Emre Sarp Zeytinoglu, 18, Turkey 1:02:43.80
49. Nico Esslinger, 19, Namibia 1:02:47.90
50. Theo Druenne, 19, Monaco 1:02:51.90
51. Jeison Rojas, 22, Costa Rica 1:02:54.00
52. Tiago Campos, 26, Portugal 1:03:27.90
53. Jun-Yan Tsao, 17, Chinese Taipei 1:03:31.50
54. Esteban Faure, 17, Monaco 1:03:47.10
55. Ilias El Fallaki, 19, Mauritius 1:03:47.40
56. Grgo Mujan, 26, Croatia 1:04:19.00
57. Alan Gonzalez Torres, 18, Mexico 1:03:55.50
58. Chin Ting Keith Sin, 30, Hong Kong 1:04:19.00
59. Moch Ak Akbar Putra Taufik, 17, Indonesia 1:04:19.00
60. Prashans Manjunath Hiremangular, 19, India 1:04:19.00
61. Richard Urban, 18, Slovakia 1:04:57.50
62. Tomas Peciar, 22, Slovakia 1:07:01.80
63. Nithikom Jeampiriyakul, 20, Thailand 1:07:01.80
64. Tsun Hin Chan, 20, Hong Kong 1:07:01.80
65. Oscar Garcia, 16, Guatemala 1:07:22.10
66. Damien Payet, 21, Seychelles 1:07:22.50
67. Dhrupad Ramakrishna, 15, India 1:07:25.10
68. Luke Yu Yang Tan, 23, Singapore 1:07:25.10
69. B Dilanka Shehan, 26, Sri Lanka 1:07:32.50
70. Juan Diego Nunez Barreras, 19, Dominican Republic 1:07:32.50
71. Percy Escobar, 25, Bolivia 1:11:26.20
72. Tharusha Rangitha Perrera, 18, Sri Lanka 1:11:26.60
73. Joaquin Estigarribia, 19, Paraguay 1:11:26.60
74. Wei Sheng Ian Leong, 17, Singapore 1:11:34.80
75. Jayden de Swardt, 18, Zimbabwe OTL
76. Tristan Timothy Nell, 17, Namibia OTL
77. Connor Nicholas Grist, 16, Zimbabwe DNF
78. David Padre, 17, Angola DNF
79. Igbaal Bayusuf, 16, Kenya DNF
80. Benjamin Lutaya, 16, Uganda DNF
81. Benco van Rooyen, 21, Botswana DNF
82. Galymzhan Balabek, 26, Kazakhstan DNF
83. Marin Mogic, 26, Croatia DNF
84. Diego Solano, 20, Bolivia DNF
85. Hamza Kassim, 17, Kenya DNF
86. Luiz Felipe Loureiro, 21, Brazil DNS
87. Rami Rahmouni, 16, Tunisia DNS

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