Speechless' After 4th Gold

Wellbrock anchors Germany to 4x1,500m relay success and is 'so proud of my team'

- Deepanraj Ganesan

Few things are predictable when it comes to nature's elements, but off Sentosa's waters, a force of consistency has emerged over the week in the form of Florian Wellbrock, who won a fourth title in five days at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore.

On July 20, the final day of the open water races, there was a familiar sight on the blue pontoon emblazoned "World Aquatics Singapore 2025" at Palawan Green as the 27-year-old stretched out his arms in delight, while teammates Isabel Gose, Oliver Klemet and Celine Rieder joined in the celebrations.

Anchoring his team to victory in the mixed 4x1,500m relay, Wellbrock touched the finish pad first as Germany won in 1hr 9min 13.3sec for their first gold medal in this event since 2022 after finishing fourth in the last two editions.

Italy's Barbara Pozzobon, Ginevra Taddeucci, Marcello Guidi and Gregorio Paltrinieri (1:09:15.4) settled for silver, with Hungary's Bettina Fabian, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem (1:09:16.7) third.

France were fourth in 1:09:24.7.