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Olympic Swimming 2021: Men's 10KM Open Water Medal Winners, Times and Results
August 4, 2021
Germany's Florian Wellbrock absolutely dominated the men's 10km open water competition Wednesday, taking home the gold medal after posting an impressive time of 1:48:33.7.
How impressive? Well, he finished 25.3 seconds ahead of the silver medal winner, Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary (1:48:59.0). Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri won the bronze (1:49:01.1).
Olympics @OlympicsGold for Florian Wellbrock!<br><br>After collecting bronze in the men's 1500m in the pool, the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GER?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GER</a> swimmer has won the men's 10km <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarathonSwimming?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarathonSwimming</a> race.<a href="https://twitter.com/fina1908?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fina1908</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TeamD</a> <a href="https://t.co/zqte76uMyT">pic.twitter.com/zqte76uMyT</a>
Jordan Wilimovsky of the United States finished 10th (1:51:40.2), over three minutes back of Wellbrock.
It's been a good Olympics for Wellbrock, who also won the bronze in the 1500m freestyle. That made him just the second swimmer to ever win medals in both pool and open water swimming (Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli claimed gold in the 10km and bronze in the 1500m at the London Games in 2012).
But he put on an absolute clinic Wednesday:
Kyle Sockwell @kylesockwellFlorian Wellbrock absolutely DOMINATES the field in the Men's 10km Marathon swim at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> taking gold for Germany in a time of 1:48:33.7!!!<br><br>Beginning to end there wasn't much doubt that it would be Wellbrock in the end.
Sean Ryan @seanryan92Wow! What a race from Florian Wellbrock, total dominance from start to finish. Great swim for <a href="https://twitter.com/j_wilimovsky?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@j_wilimovsky</a> too, tough condition and a fast race. Totally different dynamic than Rio <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tokyo2020?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tokyo2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/openwater?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#openwater</a>
Wellbrock's unique training regime benefitted him greatly in the 10km.
"We started doing high-altitude training camps in the south of Spain, in Sierra Nevada,” he told Andrew Binner of Olympics.com in May. "It's more than 2,000 meters (1.2 miles, or 6,560 feet) above sea level in the mountains. When you finish the training camp, you feel much better in the water, and it would benefit any athlete. We have two sessions per day in the water and after that session, we go for a quick run or cycling. We now do altitude camps three to four times a year, and I think that's the reason for my fast times now."
He wasn't alone in bringing his A-game Wednesday, as the local wildlife also provided a highlight:
Outside of the fish, nobody was more impressive in the water than Wellbrock.