German distance swimmer Florian Wellbrock completed a gold medal sweep of his eligible open water events on Sunday in Singapore, picking up his 4th title.
He is the first swimmer in history to win that many open water gold medals in a single World Championships, though there is a significant caveat to that wherein the former 25km race, a beast of a different species, was replaced by a 3km knockout sprint, which is more similar in skillset to the traditional 5km race.
“I’m still speechless. I have no idea how I did it,” Wellbrock said after completing his race. “We made history today. Yesterday I had a bit of problems falling asleep because I was so nervous. The relay is always special, with the different techniques from Hungary, from Italy. I’m absolutely proud of my team and our performance.”
Wellbrock grabbed gold medals in the premier 10km event, the 5km, the 3km knockout, and the team mixed-gender 4x1500m relay, where at the end of a grueling week he held off his long-time open water rival Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy. Wellbrock was actually the third-best anchor leg of that field, with Hungarian David Bethlehem outsplitting him by a whopping 18 seconds on the final lap to drag his country onto the podium.
But his achievements, while historic and impressive, aren’t the only data point that crown Magdeburg, Germany as the center of the open water universe at present. Among his training partners there under Bernd Berkhahn is Australian Moesha Jonson, who won the women’s 10k, the women’s 5k, and finished tied-for-3rd in the women’s 3km sprint knockout event.
Australia was 5th in the relay, so she couldn’t complete her quartet of medals, but the defending Olympic Champion added a big feather to her open water resume this week.
Johnson, 27, is perhaps the best example of the Madgeburg group’s abilities. When she joined Berkhahn in 2022, she was already a good open water swimmer. She had no major international medals, but was 9th in the 10k in her 4th open water race ever.
That same year, she joined the training group that was at the time headlined by Dutchwoman Sharon van Rouwendaal, the first person to win two gold medals (and three medals) at the Olympics in open water, winning the 10k in Rio and Paris and finishing 2nd in Tokyo.
And so the legend of Magdeburg, Wellbrock, Johnson, and especially Bernd Berkhahn has grown. While there is a little room for debate left about who the best open water swimmer in history is, there isn’t really any for who the best open water coach in history is.
Final Medals Table for Open Water Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Germany | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Australia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Japan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Italy | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Hungary | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | France | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 7 | Monaco | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
