No Olympic appearance

Auböck stays in bed and does not compete

Felix Auböck is still ill.(Bild: GEPA)

European swimming champion Felix Auböck may not be able to compete again at the Olympic Games in Paris. After finishing 24th in the 400m crawl on Saturday, well behind his national record and in an ailing condition, the Lower Austrian withdrew from the 200m crawl qualifying session on Sunday morning due to further symptoms of illness. 

"A headache and sore throat were added overnight," explained OSV sports director Walter Bär. "He will stay in bed and we will decide in the afternoon how to proceed."

Felix Auböck(Bild: AP/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

After the 400 m preliminary race, in which he was 7.26 seconds faster than his best time, Auböck said that his training times had already deteriorated from Tuesday. "I actually have a big question mark over what the problem is," said the 27-year-old.

"It could be a lot of things"
Bär said that doctors had looked at Auböck. "Temperature, red throat, it could be a lot of things. It is certainly more than a simple cold, maybe a flu-like infection," said the official. The performance over 400 m was foreseeable. Bär: "Of course you clutch at every straw and believe in miracles." It doesn't look good for an 800 m start either, nor for the open water race: "Endurance is the decisive factor there. It's no good not training for a week or a few days at this stage."

Five weeks ago in Belgrade, Auböck was crowned European champion in the 400 m crawl with a lead of more than four seconds. With his mark of 3:43.24 minutes at the time, he would have finished sixth in the Olympic final on Saturday evening. Of course, he had been confident in recent weeks that he would be able to deliver a faster time in the La Defense Arena than in Belgrade. The time of the Olympic bronze medallist was 0.74 seconds better than Auböck's time in Belgrade.