Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. World Championships: Florian Wellbrock Doubles Up with Wire-to-Wire 5K Win Germany’s Florian Wellbrock led wire-to-wire in the men’s 5-kilometer race at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. It continues Germany’s dominance in the open water events and is a second gold for Wellbrock, who earlier in the week won the 10K. Wellbrock, who won the 10-kilometer race at the Tokyo Olympics, crossed the line in 53 minutes, 58.0 seconds on Tuesday. He bested Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri by 4.5 seconds. Fellow Italian Domenico Acerenza earned the bronze medal in 54:04.2. The medal is Wellbrock’s sixth gold and ninth total medal World Championships. He won this race in Budapest last year, with Paltrinieri second again. “The feeling is amazing,” Wellbrock said. “It’s the fifth medal for the team, fourth gold for the team and second World Championships title for me. It’s amazing.” Leonie Beck has joined Wellbrock in sweeping golds in the 5k and 10k. Wellbrock was second in the 10K after 2.6 kilometers, behind Acerenza. In the shorter race, though, the German started fast and never trailed. “Today I started really fast,” Wellbrock said. “In the 10k I decided to save a little bit of energy because my competition is much longer. Today the conditions were much harder than the 10k. The warm temperature, the water conditions and the air temperature; 28 degrees in the water is much (warmer) than in the pool. I tried to push directly after the start and I think it was the key for the win today.” Paltrinieri, who was fifth in the 10K, started the shorter race slow, in 11th place through two laps. He trailed Acerenza until the final split, surging late to get the better of his countryman. “It happens every time that me and him are on the podium together,” Paltrinieri said of his national teammate. “We are teammates. We’re really close friends. So it’s really good to be on the podium again. We share a lot during the year because we train together. We are together most of the time, also in the training camps with the national team and everything. So we are real friends and I’m really happy for him”.” Oliver Klemet, who won bronze in the 10K, nearly added another medal but finished fourth. He never threatened a medal, 53 seconds behind Acerenza. Kristof Rasovszky, the silver medalist in the 10K this week and in the Tokyo Olympics, finished seventh. Mykhailo Romanchuk, who won bronze in the 5K in Budapest, finished 11th. Brennan Gravley was the top American finisher in 17th place, 2 minutes and 50 seconds off the pace.
