Courtesy of FINA, Gwangju, South Korea.
Florian Wellbrock has set himself up very well for a potential Mellouli Double at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Named after Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli for his dual gold medal performance in the 1500m freestyle and the 10 km marathon swim at the 2012 London Olympics, the Mellouli Double is a tough back-to-back distance freestyle challenge that demonstrates world-class mastery in speed, stamina, and strategy.
The young 21-year-old German first succeeded in winning both the 1500m freestyle in the pool today after winning the 10 km marathon swim 12 days ago at the 2019 FINA World Championships. The 12-day gap between races is much longer than the 5-day gap at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but that double is still 12 months way.
Both races in South Korea were tough for Wellbrock and a mano-a-mano battle from beginning to end.
Pool and open water rival Gregorio Paltrinieri and Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk pushed Wellbrock throughout the 30-lap pool distance race, but it was Wellbrock who pulled out the 30-lap race like he did in the marathon swim.
Paltrinieri will also attempt to pull off a Mellouli Double in Tokyo, but he could not match his 800m freestyle victory here in the longer 1500m race.
Top 8 Men in 1500m Freestyle:
- Florian Wellbrock (Germany) 14:36.54
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine) 14:37.63
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) 14:38.75
- David Aubry (France) 14:44.72
- Henrik Christiansen (Norway) 14:45.35
- Domenico Acerenza (Italy) 14:52.05
- Sergii Frylov (Ukraine) 15:01.04
- Alexander Norgaard (Denmark) 15:20.47
Copyright © 2008 – 2019 by World Open Water Swimming Association