Open water world cup

“Suddenly everyone fired up the turbo”

Luca Karl made it into the top 30.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Swimmer Luca Karl was very satisfied with 28th place at the Open Water World Cup in Egypt. The conditions made it anything but easy for the 22-year-old. The man from Salzburg kept up with the world elite for a long time until the superstars suddenly picked up the pace.

Swimming ace Luca Karl starts his journey home from Egypt with a smile on his face. The man from Salzburg finished 28th at the Open Water World Cup in Somabay. "It was very successful overall," Karl summed up and continued: "We were in the top group, always in the top 15 until the last lap. Then, unfortunately, I really paid the price for the fact that the race was so fast and all the superstars fired up the turbo at once." Nevertheless, the student finished less than two minutes behind the winner Florian Wellbrock (D). "Unfortunately, it wasn't the World Championship qualifier. Nevertheless, it's my best World Cup result in the sense that the gap to the winner has never been so small," said the 22-year-old jubilantly.

The venue lived up to its reputation as a surfer's paradise. "It was very windy, with wind peaks of up to 40 km/h and high waves. So it was all the more pleasing that it was still a very successful race." The next opportunity to qualify for the World Championships will be in May at the European Championships in Stari Grad in Croatia. And in June there would be the next chance to wrap up qualification.