Singapore, July 19 -- Germany's Florian Wellbrock and Japan's Ichika Kajimoto wrote their names into the history books on Saturday, clinching golds in the inaugural 3km open water knockout sprint events at the World Aquatics Championships on Singapore's Sentosa Island.
The newly introduced event saw swimmers progress through three elimination rounds - 1500m, 1000m, and a final 500m dash - with only the fastest surviving each stage.
Wellbrock, 27, completed a clean sweep of the men's open water titles this week, adding the sprint crown to his earlier victories in the 10km and 5km races.
The Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020 looked untouchable from start to finish.
"The strategy was to have a good position in the 1500m and 1km, and bei...