2025 St. Petersburg Aquatics Trials Fundraiser Meet
- January 17-18, 2025
- North Shore Pool, St. Petersburg, Florida
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), Timed Finals
- Live Meet Results
A race for the ages: the World Record holders in the men’s and women’s 1500 freestyles lined up, head-to-head, in St. Petersburg to help raise money for teams’ Trials qualifiers.
University of Florida post-grad teammates Katie Ledecky and Bobby Finke swam side-by-side on Friday evening under the lights in Florida. The pair are famous for their battles during practice (here, here, and here), and in this race we got the real thing.
While Ledecky sometimes wins in practice, Finke was always going to come out ahead in a competitive swim, though the battle did bring out a pretty good swim from both athletes.
Finke finished in 14:58.68, which is the fastest he has ever been in this race in January. He swam 15:04 last year at a Pro Swim Series meet, and 15:06 in 2023 at a Pro Swim Series meet. There is not Pro Swim in January this year.
Ledecky, meanwhile, was the 2nd-best swimmer in the race in 15:42.73, which is four seconds off what she did in the Pro Swim in January last year, though she was closer to her best time (22 seconds) than was Finke (28 seconds).
Splits Comparison:
| Bobby Finke | Katie Ledecky | |
| 100m | 56.95 | 59.76 |
| 200m | 60.27 | 62.67 |
| 300m | 60.8 | 62.79 |
| 400m | 60.42 | 63.16 |
| 500m | 60.47 | 63.26 |
| 600m | 60.23 | 62.91 |
| 700m | 59.95 | 63.38 |
| 800m | 60.24 | 62.91 |
| 900m | 59.85 | 62.26 |
| 1000m | 60.01 | 62.99 |
| 1100m | 60.11 | 63.15 |
| 1200m | 60.3 | 63.47 |
| 1300m | 60.36 | 63.85 |
| 1400m | 60.15 | 64.3 |
| 1500m | 58.57 | 61.87 |
| 14:58.68 | 15:42.73 |
Eight teenagers got the thrill of racing against their Olympic heroes. The top junior girl was 15-year-old Brinkleigh Hansen of the host team in 16:51.69, a best time by three seconds; and the top junior boy was 15-year-old Cobe Hehenberger in 16:26.45.
Finke is scheduled to race the 200 back and 200 fly on Saturday morning at the meet hosted by his home club. Ledecky, meanwhile, is scheduled for the 100 free and 400 free.
Former Cal and Florida All-American Isabel Ivey will also race on Saturday, her first races since the Olympic Trials in June, where she was 3rd in the 200 IM. She’ll race the 100 free and 100 fly on Saturday morning.
This is so cool.