2023 BERLIN SWIM OPEN
- Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd
- Berlin, Germany
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Results
Day one of the 2023 Berlin Open ended with a major bang as Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock fired off a new German national record in the men’s 1500m freestyle.
Stopping the clock in a time of 14:34.89, 25-year-old Wellbrock not only earned the meet title decisively, but he also overtook his own previous lifetime best in the event.
Entering this competition, Wellbrock’s career-quickest 1500m free rested at the 14:36.15 he notched at the 2018 European Championships.
Tonight in Berlin, however, the open water and pool swimming ace sliced over a second off that result to establish a new national record en route to qualifying for this summer’s World Championships.
In fact, Wellbrock now ranks #1 in the world, overtaking the previous global leader Daniel Wiffen who earned a new Irish standard with his PB of 14:34.91.
2022-2023 LCM Men 1500 Free
Hafnaoui
14:31.54
| 2 | Bobby Finke | USA | 14:31.59 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Florian Wellbrock | GER | 14:34.89 | 04/21 |
| 4 | Daniel Wiffen | IRL | 14:34.91 | 04/14 |
| 5 | Samuel Short | AUS | 14:37.28 | 07/30 |
For perspective, Wellbrock’s 14:34.98 outing this evening would have easily taken gold at the 2020 Olympic Games, holding a nearly 4-second advantage over champion Bobby Finke of the United States who took Tokyo gold in 14:39.64.
History-wise, Wellbrock now becomes the 4th fastest man ever in this 1500m free event.
Top Men’s LCM 1500 Free Performers All-Time
- Sun Yang (CHN) – 14:31.02, 2012
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) – 14:32.80, 2022
- Grant Hackett (AUS) – 14:34.56, 2001
- Florian Wellbrock (GER) – 14:34.89, 2023
- Daniel Wiffen (IRL) – 14:34.91, 2023
Post-race Wellbrock said, “My trainer Bernd Berkhahn and I agreed that I was overdue for a 1500m record. The training progress was always the same as on the other routes, but I was never able to achieve it on the 1500 meters.
Giving his fellow global competitors their due, Wellbrock said, “Internationally, Gregorio Paltrinieri and Daniel Wiffen have already shown that you can and probably have to swim well beyond this 14:36 if you want to win in Fukuoka and Paris 2024. In any case, that’s a tight time for the end of April.”
Märtens just won the 800 in 7:42,14 before Wellbrock (7:42,99), Schwarz (7:43,43) and Romanchuk (7:44,27)
So Schwarz is 5th in the world currently and probably wont make the worlds team
Sam short should be worried about the rise of wiffen wellbrock galossi
Much quicker than Sam short
Does Moesha Johnson swim in Wellbrock’s training group now? She swam here instead of Aussie Nationals and went a PB of 15:58 in the mile.
this event has 5 people at 14:36 or faster, who have all done their lifetime best within the last 10 months. surely the wr falls at worlds. if it does, it would be in the same city where another great 1500 record was set
Great swim by Wellbrock. We know about Martens but does the 14.45.39 by Oliver Klemet sneak him into the all-time top 20?
Nope. There are so many swimmers who had gone under 14.40
he’s 23rd. needs to drop another 0.35 to be ranked 20th
The top of the rankings are gonna get a major reshuffle soon it seems.
Exciting times… and times.
The European males look to dominate the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Paltrinieri, Wellbrock, Wiffen (not necessarily in the aforementioned order) could make it an European sweep of the men’s 1500 meter freestyle.
I feel like we said this before the Olympics too so idk. I’m feeling the Finke