Tokyo 1500m freestyle gold medallist Florian Wellbrock opened his 2026 World Aquatics Open Water World Cup campaign with a final-lap surge to win the 10km in 1:50:59.5 at Somabay on Egypt's Red Sea coast.
The 28-year-old German, who has spent recent winters integrating open water blocks into his pool training under coach Bernd Berkhahn, kicked clear of Hungary's David Betlehem in the closing 200 metres. Betlehem, last year's bronze medallist at the World Championships in Singapore, took silver in 1:51:04.10. Italy's Domenico Acerenza completed the podium.
"I think I had the most energy for the last lap and just used my legs to sprint away — it worked really well," Wellbrock said after the race.
The German has long preferred to race from the front in open water, a tactical choice he reaffirmed in his post-race comments.
"I always want to use my speed, and because I don't like to go into the finish in a crowd; it's always a problem for me if I'm stuck in the pack."
Conditions on the Red Sea, with calm water and warm temperatures, suited the European contingent. Wellbrock acknowledged the friendly setting after climbing out.
"It's a part of our sport to deal with different conditions, and I like the sun, warm water, and flat water. It was perfect conditions for me today."
In the women's 10km, Australia's Moesha Johnson took her first World Cup gold of 2026 with 1:58:26.10, ahead of Italy's Ginevra Taddeucci (1:59:14.70) and Germany's Lea Boy (1:59:23.30). Johnson, the Olympic 10km silver medallist from Paris, has now won three consecutive World Cup races over the distance dating back to last September.
Germany also took the mixed 4x1500m relay in 1:09:24.60, defeating Hungary by 2 minutes 30 seconds and Spain by more than 48 minutes. The relay, contested in heavy chop after the morning races, has become a Wellbrock-led specialist event for Germany; the team has now won eight of the last 10 contested at any major.
The Somabay opener serves as the first qualification event for the 2026 European Aquatics Championships in Paris and the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in 2027. Wellbrock, who finished fifth in the 10km in Paris last summer after a frustrating 2025 build-up, has rebuilt his open water campaign around the new World Cup format introduced this winter.
The series moves to Setúbal in Portugal in June and Lac Saint-Jean in Quebec in July before culminating with the Beidaihe stop in China in October. With Olympic 10km champion Kristóf Rasovszky absent from Somabay, Wellbrock now leads the World Cup standings going into the European Championships, where he has been entered in the 1500m freestyle, the 800m, the 4x200m relay and the 10km open water — the four-event programme that delivered him his Tokyo medals.
