East German swimmer Wilfried Hartung burst onto the scene at the 1970 Barcelona Europeans, when he won two bronze medals with both freestyle relays. He also came in sixth in the individual 400 m freestyle. At the 1972 München Olympics he won another bronze medal with the 4x100 m freestyle relay. Individually he missed both the 100 and 200 freestyle finals. In 1973 Hartung swam in the heats of both freestyle relays, but did not swim in the finals when the relays won a silver and a bronze medal. At the 1976 Montréal Olympics he placed fifth with the 4x200 m freestyle relay.
In 1973 Hartung married his teammate Gabriele Wetzko but they divorced a few years later. He trained as a car mechanic and worked with VEB Autotrans Berlin until re-unification. Hartung then worked as a sales agent and later moved to Switzerland.