Florian Wellbrock and Ginevra Taddeucci followed up their 10km victories with further gold in the 5km events on day two of open water competition at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris.
Wellbrock saw off a resurgent David Betlehem, while Taddeucci had to come from behind after a fast-starting Barbara Pozzobon set the early pace.
Pozzobon set the early tone, leading outright from the very first buoy through to halfway. Her compatriot Taddeucci had to work her way into contention, sitting second early on before slipping as low as fourth around halfway, multiple body lengths off the pace and further back than at any other point in the race.
Gregorio Paltrinieri, Florian Wellbrock & David Betlehem: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
The decisive moment came with just over a kilometre to go. Taddeucci, who had steadily clawed her way back into the podium places by that point, surged past both her rivals to take the lead for the first time.
She never looked back, leading outright the rest of the way and holding on to the finish to complete the distance-double, touching in 1:02:31.2.
Behind her, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas, who had worked her way into second by the finish, took silver in 1:02:33.4, 2.1 seconds adrift, for her second silver in as many races.
Pozzobon was passed in the closing stages and had to settle for bronze in 1:02:35.1.
Wellbrock started the shorter distance in a similar vein to the 10k, sitting second early on before briefly dropping to third, 4.2 seconds down. But by the second checkpoint the German was untouchable, hitting the front and leading outright the rest of the way, and he never really relinquished his hold of the race, despite charges at certain points from a number of athletes.
Wellbrock’s advantage held firm to the finish. He touched in 55:40.2 to add the 5km title to his 10km crown, with Betlehem taking a second successive silver medal behind him in 55:42.6, 2.3 seconds back, and Gregorio Paltrinieri completing the podium in 55:44.7.
The result is the German’s first ever 5km European title – complementing the three he has already secured at World Championship level.
