Swimming World Championships: Anna Elendt sensationally wins gold

"I'm speechless," said Anna Elendt after her World Championship coup in Singapore. The 23-year-old German swimmer surprisingly won the 100-meter breaststroke final at the World Championships in Singapore thanks to a brilliant final sprint, beating American Kate Douglass, the double Olympic champion from Paris 2024.

"We worked hard on my last 15 meters, and it paid off," said Elendt. Her time of 1:05.19 minutes not only meant World Championship gold, but also a new German record for this distance. Bronze went to China's Tang Qianting. Elendt won silver in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest.

Elendt: "I feel much calmer"

After that, things often didn't go as planned – partly because the athlete was under a lot of stress at college and put herself under pressure. With her degrees in business and sports management, many things have become easier. "I feel much more relaxed and happier than I have in recent years," she explained in Singapore. "It's really true that I'm only swimming for myself. That I don't have to swim for my studies, for college."

Elendt added: "If I really don't feel like it anymore, I could say I'll quit tomorrow. That's not the plan, of course, but it simply takes the pressure off." She had already considered reaching the final a success. The fact that it was enough to win the World Championship title is a swimming sensation.