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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
There was a lot riding on Bobby Finke‘s performance in the final of the men’s 1500 freestyle during the closing pool swimming session at the Paris Olympic Games.
Not only was Finke defending his Olympic title and seeking a redemption of sorts after settling for silver in the 800 free, but he also was the last chance for the American men to win an individual gold medal. It was the 14th and final individual male event of the Paris Games, and if Finke didn’t come through, it would be the first time since 1900 that U.S. men walked away with no individual golds.
But Finke delivered in spades. In Tokyo, he surprised some of the top contenders with his closing ability on the last 50. This time, with a target on his back, he took a bit of a different approach, assuming the lead from the jump and never relinquishing it.
“That really was not my strategy to go into the race,” Finke said post-race, according to USA Swimming.
“I didn’t know how the race was going to play out. I saw I had a pretty decent lead at around the 300 and I knew I had to keep going and hopefully try and make the guys hurt a little bit trying to catch up to me. They started catching up to me and I was worried, but I knew I had to keep pushing. I knew if I could keep a little bit of a distance I was in good shape for the end of the race.”
Despite appearing as though he went out harder than usual, Finke felt controlled and just happened to be swimming faster than his competitors through the race’s early stages.
“I never really felt like I took it out too quick. I was feeling pretty good at the 300 and I knew as long as I could maintain a slight distance, not necessarily building my lead but maintaining where I was, I found it a lot easier and a lot less stressful. As long as I was focusing on what I could control in the race, I knew I was going to be in pretty good shape.”
Sun Yang‘s world record of 14:31.02 from the 2012 Olympics in London hadn’t been seriously approached—Gregorio Paltrinieri got somewhat close by going 14:32.80 in 2022 —until last summer, when Ahmed Hafnaoui (14:31.54) and Finke (14:31.59) were just over half a second shy of the longstanding mark at the 2023 World Championships.
In Paris, Finke was well under world record pace throughout the race, and despite Sun’s blistering closing 100 in his WR swim (53.39), Finke came home fast enough on the last 50 (26.27) to snag the record and become the first man under 14:31, clocking 14:30.67.
Both men actually negative split their swims, closing the second 750 in 7:14-high after opening in 7:15.88 (Finke) and 7:16.15 (Sun).
Split Comparison
| Sun, London 2012 | Finke, Paris 2024 |
| 27.09 | 26.79 |
| 55.80 (28.71) | 55.47 (28.68) |
| 1:25.26 (29.46) | 1:24.72 (29.25) |
| 1:54.31 (29.05) | 1:53.59 (28.87) |
| 2:23.66 (29.35) | 2:22.69 (29.10) |
| 2:52.63 (28.97) | 2:51.69 (29.00) |
| 3:22.16 (29.53) | 3:21.12 (29.43) |
| 3:51.50 (29.34) | 3:50.38 (29.26) |
| 4:20.73 (29.23) | 4:19.81 (29.43) |
| 4:49.62 (28.89) | 4:49.10 (29.29) |
| 5:18.88 (29.26) | 5:18.59 (29.49) |
| 5:48.15 (29.27) | 5:47.86 (29.27) |
| 6:17.40 (29.25) | 6:17.30 (29.44) |
| 6:46.74 (29.34) | 6:46.51 (29.21) |
| 7:16.15 (29.41) | 7:15.88 (29.37) |
| 7:45.45 (29.30) | 7:45.18 (29.30) |
| 8:14.94 (29.49) | 8:14.43 (29.25) |
| 8:44.32 (29.38) | 8:43.37 (28.94) |
| 9:13.78 (29.46) | 9:12.65 (29.28) |
| 9:43.10 (29.32) | 9:41.72 (29.07) |
| 10:12.52 (29.42) | 10:10.85 (29.13) |
| 10:41.73 (29.21) | 10:40.01 (29.16) |
| 11:11.27 (29.54) | 11:09.21 (29.20) |
| 11:40.64 (29.37) | 11:38.41 (29.20) |
| 12:09.81 (29.17) | 12:07.49 (29.08) |
| 12:39.00 (29.19) | 12:36.69 (29.20) |
| 13:08.39 (29.39) | 13:06.02 (29.33) |
| 13:37.53 (29.14) | 13:35.33 (29.31) |
| 14:05.34 (27.71) | 14:04.40 (29.07) |
| 14:31.02 (25.68) | 14:30.67 (26.27) |
The 24-year-old Finke, who now has three Olympic gold medals and one silver to his name, held the slight lead over 2016 champion Gregorio Paltrinieri throughout most of the race, and as expected, the Italian had no answer for Finke when he made his final push for home.
Paltrinieri claimed silver in 14:34.55, while 800 free champion Daniel Wiffen was the distant bronze medalist.
Finke now owns two of the four fastest swims in history, and has the 14:30 barrier in his sights.
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Amazing swim, but I don’t see how it is a ‘better’ swim that winning the 100 free by a full second. Maybe just a US take on a local swimmer not a world wide view.
Finke went on Nightcap today and said it stings a bit that he didn’t go sub-14:30, but that taking the record down into the 14:20s, even low 14:20s is on his radar. “Sounds really ambitious…but someone’s got to be able to think it to do it”
And at the end of the interview they gave him a $50,000 check lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGmvYbEZub4
Apologies if this has already been pointed out but maybe it was better he was not in the middle of the pool next to Paltrinieri and Wiffen. Swam with blinders on.