Following the conclusion of his final open water race of the 2025 World Championships, Germany’s Florian Wellbrock needed medical attention after the German team won the mixed 4x1500m relay, capping off an Open Water Championships where he won four golds.
“After the knockout sprint, I already felt like my body is done, Today, my body is done, done.” Wellbrock told World Aquatics following his relay gold. “I think it was a combination of empty body, emotional mind.”
Earlier in the meet, after winning the 10K, Wellbrock described the racing conditions as “being in a washing machine with 40 degrees (104°F) water.” He called it “the hottest race ever in my career.”
This wasn’t the only time Wellbrock cited the warm water as a challenge. After the 3K knockout sprint, he emphasized the extreme conditions in his press conference: “The conditions here are tough, everybody knows it’s hot outside, and the water temperature is crazy, close to 31 degrees (87.8°F).”
The maximum allowed temperature for open water competition is 31 degrees Celsius, a threshold that raised concerns heading into the event in Singapore.
He later added, “The combination of this heat and the water temperature is so tough. A whole week of 10K, 5K, relay, knockout, it feels like a washing machine.”
The open water competition does not mark the end of the meet for Wellbrock; he is slated to swim the 1500 free in the pool. He will not swim the 800 free, however, due to German depth in the event. This may be beneficial for him as it will give him more time between the open water and pool events, where he struggled in 2023.
Wellbrock wasn’t the only swimmer to voice concerns about the extreme conditions. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri also referenced the heat after finishing second to Wellbrock in both the 5K and 10K.
“It was a tough race. I like warm water better than cold water, but this was really warm.” Paltrinieri said following his 10k silver medal-winning race.
Later in the meet, at the conclusion of his 5k, Paltrinieri added, “When you come here, you have a lot of issues in your mind, like the water and the heat.” “It’s so hot. These conditions are one of the toughest I’ve ever raced in,” Paltrinieri said following his 5k race
Australia’s Moesha Johnson, who claimed gold in both the 10K and 5K, also felt the impact of the extreme conditions in Singapore.
“That was one of the hardest circumstances and open water conditions to be a part of,” Johnson said after the 10K. “To have a 36-hour delay with two postponements and race in these temperatures. They were saying this is the hottest World Aquatics Championships ever. That wasn’t easy at all. It wasn’t just hot.”
Her 5K victory came under similar conditions. “Mentally, I’m still quite exhausted from dealing with the heat the other day in the 10K,” she said. “The heat is both mentally and physically fatiguing. I think to get through that today, I’m really proud of myself.”
Well, your health should be the top priority over exposing yourself to heatstroke because winning is not everything as important than your life!!!
The pool swimmers did well here compered to pure open water swimmers since pools are relatively hot, but 31C is too hot for this level of competition. It is a shame Wod Aquatics did not learn from the death of Fran Crippen. Easily could have been another one here.
10k races never should have taken place in those conditions. W were even worse with a 4pm start. I don’t believe for a minute WA’s reported temp of 30.9 for the duration of the W’s race. I call 💩. Shame on you WA. Did you learn nothing from Fran or is the $$ all that strong.
Has FINA learned nothing from Fran Crippen’s death?
We need to take better care of our world and its waters — and ourselves.
Now he have 12 days between his OW race and the 1500 heats to rest up, hopefully he can at least reach the final, which he missed in 2023 Worlds and 2024 Olympics. He was last in a global 1500 final in 2022.
Yes, very tough conditions but could the athletes, federations and W.A plan a little and lighten the athlete’s load under the circumstances? I know everyone wants to swim and win everything but sometimes that’s just not humanely possible (unless your name ends in Wellbrock 😁). I think we have all found the limits of human potential this week with what these athletes have put themselves through 👏🙌.
Racing conditions were the same for all athletes during each race, those requiring medical attention for heat stress might have just found their limit (and good on them for being elite enough to find that limit). They and their team will be be better for the knowledge gained 💪.
We don’t see road runners trying a Marathon/10,000/5,000/1500 in a single week for a reason, this doesn’t mean they couldn’t -rather they think that might not be the best idea for themselves 🤔.
Only runner crazy enough to attempt that is Hassan and she’s already done 1,0000/5,000/1,500 in Tokyo and then Marathon/10,000/5,000 in Paris.
They don’t do it because every time their feet strike the ground, it puts hundreds of pounds of force and impact on those joints, which is the same reason runners don’t train at the volumes swimmers do.
The open water swimmers deserve better after the poop water in Paris and now this …