To see all of our 2022 Swammy Awards, click here.
2022 U.S. Male Swimmer of the Year: Nic Fink
In 2021, Nic Fink made his first Olympic team in the 200 breaststroke. He walked away from Tokyo without a medal after a fifth-place finish in the event. Over the past year, the 29-year-old has built on that experience, becoming a gold medal threat from the 50 to the 200 breaststroke.
Like many breaststrokers, there was a window of opportunity for Fink at the 2022 World Championships, as Adam Peaty was forced to withdraw prior to the start of the meet due to an ankle injury. Without Peaty, who’s dominated the long course international breaststroke scene for the better part of a decade, there was a chance for other breaststrokers to assert themselves.
Fink took full advantage of the opportunity. First, he took bronze in the 100 breaststroke in 58.65, just off the lifetime-best 58.37 he set at U.S. World Trials. His crowning moment came in the 50 breaststroke, where he struck gold with a lifetime best of 26.45, out-touching Nicolo Martinenghi by .03 seconds and setting a new American record.
He was a crucial part of the medley relays as well, splitting a nasty 57.86 on both the mixed and men’s medley relays.
After Worlds, Fink turned his attention to short course meters and the 2022 FINA World Cup circuit. It’s his performance here that really elevates him from the rest of the contenders for this award. From Berlin to Toronto and finally Indianapolis, Fink absolutely dominated the breaststroke races. He went 9-for-9, sweeping the 50/100/200 breaststrokes and earning three Triple Crowns.
His performance through all three stops earned him second in the overall standings, just .2 points behind winner Dylan Carter, who earned three Triple Crowns of his own.
To conclude his year Fink raced at Short Course Worlds, where he continued to shine. He popped 25.38 to win the 50 breaststroke in a new championship and Americas record. In the 100 breast, he upgraded from bronze in 2021 to gold. And in the 200 breast, he set another Americas record with his silver medal time of 2:01.60.
In Melbourne, Fink once again proved his relay value. He was a part of world record-setting teams in the mixed 4×50 medley and men’s 4×100 medley relays, where he split 24.96 and 54.88, respectively. His 100 breaststroke split was the fastest in the field by over half a second.
Heading into 2023, Fink has established himself as one of the best breaststrokers in the world in both short and long course, and the U.S.’s new go-to breaststroker.
Honorable Mentions
- Ryan Murphy – Murphy has been a staple on the U.S.’s international team roster for well over six years now. At the beginning of the year, though, some were beginning to question if he was about to be replaced by the slew of up-and-coming young American backstroke stars. Murphy responded with one of the strongest years of his career. Though he lost his 100 backstroke world record to Thomas Ceccon in Budapest, he still earned silver in that race with a 51.97, his fastest swim in four years. He followed that up by winning gold in the 200 back for the first individual World Championship title of his career. At the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, he became the first person to sweep all three backstroke races at a World Championship. He also swam on two world record-setting relays.
- Carson Foster – 2022 was the year that Carson Foster put it all together. He announced himself at the U.S. World Trials, finally making it onto a long course senior international team in both IMs and a spot on the 4×200 free relay. In Budapest, he stormed to two silver medals in the 200 and 400 IM with lifetime bests of 1:55.71 and 4:06.56. In the 4×200 free relay, he split 1:45.04 to help the U.S. to the top of the podium after missing it entirely at the Tokyo Olympics. In Melbourne, he earned the same medals in the same events. He also put up top 5 times in the world in the 200 backstroke (1:55.86) and 200 butterfly (1:53.67).
- Hunter Armstrong – After surprising many by making the Olympic team in the 100 backstroke, Armstrong followed up with a strong 2022 long course season. In April at U.S. World Trials, he blasted 23.71 to take out the 50 backstroke world record. Then at Worlds, he earned silver in the 50 back and bronze in the 100 back. In the latter, he popped a 51.98, cracking the 52 second barrier and posting the then-ninth-fastest performance of all-time.
Should we be questioning why Fink is suddenly swimming best times at 29 when he’d never won an international medal before last year?
I don’t actually think he’s doing anything shady. But McKeon article are always riddled with these accusations. And Fink was older and less successful when he suddenly started winning so thought I’d just ask for consistency.
Negative.
On the note that Murphy should’ve won (which is wrong), it’s weird that 200 back long course has no evolved whatsoever as an event in the past 15 years.
Lochte, Clary, Piersol, and even Phelps would be out prime Murphy in the 2 back with times from 10+ years ago lol.
2 back LCM is the the new 2 free LCM
Firstly, why is Bobby Finke not a honourable mention (1 gold and 1 silver at the LCM world championships)?
Secondly, Nick Fink had a great year, but I believe the award should go to Ryan Murphy. Setting aside the World Cup stops (which is essentially a Grand Prix meet – not everyone is tapered or treating this like the be-all and end-all), Ryan Murphy’s achievements stand ahead of Nick Fink’s.
LCM: both won an individual gold and silver, however Ryan Murphy’s 51.97 was a stronger performance than either of Fink’s.
SCM: Murph gets the win in all three backstroke’s, whilst Fink earns two wins and a runner up finish in the breastroke’s. Again, the comparatively stronger set… Read more »
Carson: top five in the world in 4 long couse events. Not too shabby.
kinda surprised finke isnt a honorable mention
I’m surprised too. There are too many recency bias among the Swammy awards.
A swap with Forter would make sense if only 3 nominees are allowed
And so quickly the Swammy Male Athlete of the Year is forgotten and not even mentioned despite his 1 gold 1 silver and two ARs at the World Championships (LCM)!
Why Fink over Murphy?
LC Worlds:
Fink: 2 golds 1 silver 1 bronze (1 gold 1 bronze individually)
Murphy: 2 golds 2 silvers (1 gold 1 silver individually)
If you argue that Murphy won 200 back in the absence of Rylov, then Fink also won 50 breast in the absence of Peaty!
In terms of times, 51.97/ 1:54.52 back is more impressive than 26.45/ 58.65 breast. Murphy’s 51.97 could have won almost every World Championships but this year’s.
SC Worlds:
Fink: 4 golds 2 silver (2 golds 1 silver individually)
Murphy: 5 golds 1 silver (3 golds individually)
Even if you want to take into account the 50 back drama, Murphy is still… Read more »
How many AR did each set this year or reset?
Katharine Berkoff set 1 long course AR this year. Katie Ledecky set 0. Is Berkoff better than Ledecky in long course this year?
51.97 and 48.50 are better times.
If they both won similar in dividual medals then fair to make that comparison. How about relays? At LC Worlds, Ryan didn’t even earn the mixed relay spot. Fink swam it and they won gold. In the men’s medley, Murphy was beaten by Ceccon pretty handily and Fink barely by Italian. At SC Worlds, Fink had one of the fastest splits ever on 400 medley and Murphy wasn’t as good as individual. You are talking as if Ryan set 5 WRs and Fink was a slacker. On World Cup, Fink dominated breastroke events!
Katie Ledecky posted top ten (10) All-Time Performances in three individual events at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
Katharine Berkoff did not even win an individual gold medal at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships.
probably the World Cup performances clinched it for him.
I don’t think World Cup should be taken into account. Let’s be honest that few swimmers take it seriously. Even the Pro Swim Series is more stacked with top American swimmers than the World Cup.
What a lame argument!
I don’t want to hear anything about 1:54.5 200 back it’s the weakest event internationally on the men’s side by a huge margin right now.
Lochte would have been winning that event by 2 seconds 11 years later. Clary by 1.5. Phelps went faster at Nationals without even really tapering. Piersol and Lochte went faster in 2007.
The other stuff is fine to point out. 200 back is a joke.
I think something that played a factor was the consistency of Fink going to and destroying the World Cup circuit but also the value of his breaststroke to the US swim team. We’ve got a lot of fast male backstrokers and Murphy is the best one, this year we had 1.5 high level male breaststrokers between Fink and up and down year for MA
MA’s breaststroke was down all year actually. It is hard to believe he was our #1 breaststroke just a year and anhalf ago until Fink broke out.
Well deserved!