Former Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock won the men's 10km open water race at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Wednesday, after the race was postponed because of poor water quality off Sentosa.
The German swimmer, 27, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, secured his seventh global gold in open water swimming with a time of one hour, 59 minutes, and 55.50 seconds.
"It was really tough today. I think it was the warmest waters that we've had to race in," Wellbrock said.
"I had one year to prepare for this. We did a lot of heat training and I think that was the key today to me taking the gold."
🥇 World Champion
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 16, 2025
Florian Wellbrock 🇩🇪 conquers the 10km #OpenWater title with an incredible pace of 1:12 per 100m 🔥🌊 #AQUASingapore25 pic.twitter.com/tUspLmb01I
Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri, a six-time world champion across pool and open water disciplines, finished 3.7 seconds behind Wellbrock to claim silver, marking his 17th career world championship medal.
"I knew Greg (Paltrinieri) was on my feet all the time. In the last lap, I saw it was Ollie (Klemet) and Greg on my back," Wellbrock said.
"It's so dangerous when they're so close, especially Greg - he always has such a great finish. I was really nervous and tried to push all the time."
Australia's Kyle Lee clinched bronze with a time of 2:00:10.3, edging Germany's Oliver Klemet by just one second.
The race, initially scheduled for Tuesday, began on Wednesday because water quality readings exceeded acceptable thresholds.
GREG D’ARGENTO 🤩🥈
— Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) July 16, 2025
Ai Mondiali di Singapore arriva la prima medaglia per l’Italia firmata da Gregorio Paltrinieri: nella 10 km in acque libere, l’azzurro viene battuto solo dal tedesco Florian Wellbrock 💪#Nuoto #Paltrinieri pic.twitter.com/T9VcqVBNoZ