World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2025 – Stop 1
- February 21-22, 2025
- Somabay, Egypt
- Meet Central
- Results
Germany’s Florian Wellbrock and Australian Moesha Johnson brought home gold on the first stop of the 2025 Open Water World Cup. They also aided their teams to a 1-2 finish respectively in the 4×1500 mixed relay event.
Wellbrock leveraged a strong back half to win the men’s 10k, taking the lead at lap three of six and never looking back. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Champion finished in 2:01.33.60, more than 10 seconds ahead of Frenchmen Logan Fontaine and Marc-Antoine Olivier.
The day after the 10k, Wellbrock propelled Germany to a gold medal in the team race. The first three legs, Isabel Gose, Jeannette Spiwoks, and Oliver Klemet, swam neck-and-neck with the event’s reigning world champions, Australia. Wellbrock, the anchor, dove in pulled ahead of Australia by thirty seconds by the finish.
Australia settled for silver. Italy, the event’s 2023 World Champions, scored third.
The Aussies had a very successful showing in the women’s 10k race. Johnson, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, took the gold in 2:06:34.60. Three seconds behind her was Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci (2:06:37.60), while Johnson’s Australian teammate Chelsea Gubecka claimed bronze (2:06:51.00).
Johnson and Wellbrock officially punched their tickets to the 2025 Open Water World Championships in Singapore with their first-place finishes.
The pair also climbed up in World Aquatic’s new world rankings system. Johnson shot up to #5 after previously sitting at #11. Wellbrock, meanwhile, ascended two spots from #9 to #7. Both silver medalists also moved up in the rankings: Taddeucci from #8 to #6 and Fontaine from #5 to #2. Click here to learn more about the World Aquatics’ new ranking system.
The next world cup stop will be from April 25 to 26 in Ibiza, Spain.
Both Male and Female winners here were clinical, Wellbrock looks unbeatable again and was head and shoulders above his competition, scary signs for the rest of the world.
Once again no U.S. swimmers at an international open water race. USA Swimming should either get behind the open water swimmers and start treating them and their events with the respect, support and opportunities they provide the pool swimmers, or allow open water swimming to branch off under its’ own governing body. USA Swimming expects Olympic medal results in this discipline but does nothing to help make that happen.
US open water is a joke. Our swimmers/coaches are busy trying to swim 500 scy in college 9 months out of the year.
Why don’t Americans participate? I know they aren’t very good at the moment but will they ever get the experience if they don’t race against the best?
Because they are all ruining their distance careers by competing in the NCAA. #JavauxOnTop
Because USA Swimming gives no support to Open Water and places no value on it. Open Water Swimming is a completely different sport than pool swimming but USA Swimming thinks if you’re good at pool distance you should be fine in open water – not the case at all. Forcing the open water swimmers to do everything the same way as the pool swimmers doesn’t work – the Olympics just proved that. The open water swimmers were made to attend the same training camps and practices as the pool swimmers and then made to sit at the athletes village amidst covid and substandard practices until their races. In the past they have attended their own training and holding camp until… Read more »
Go the Aussies! Mo is on such a roll.
No coincidence her squad mate takes out the Men’s race also. Something in the training maybe?