Bobby Finke Swims #3 All-Time Performance in SCY 1650 – 14:12.52

2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Prelims 10 AM/ Finals 6 PM (Local Time)
• Short course yards (SCY) format
• Defending champion: Cal (1x) – 2019 results
• Streaming:
• Championship Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Bobby Finke rattled his own NCAA and American Records in the men’s 1650 yet again tonight, winning the race massively with a 14:12.52. The marks his 3rd 14:12 of his career, and the 3rd-fastest performance of all-time in the event. For reference, Finke remains the only swimmer to ever swim under 14:18 in the event. Tonight’s swim also broke the NCAA meet record by over 10 seconds.

Finke first set the NCAA Record at the 2020 SEC Championships, where he popped off a 14:12.08. That swim was a massive drop for Finke, who had only been 14:23 previously. He was set as the heavy favorite for the event at the 2020 NCAAs, but that meet was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finke came back to SECs this year, and clocked a 14:12 again, touching in 14:12.18. He swam his 2021 SECs race differently than he did on his record swim from 2020, taking the race out more conservatively, and splitting faster on the back half. HE took a very similar approach tonight, again finishing just a hair off the record.

Here are the top 10 performances of all time in the men’s SCY 1650 free:

As the chart shows, Finke now owns 4 of the fastest 10 times in history. Now that he’s a senior, it’s unclear how often he’ll race a SCY mile from here on, although his future looks bright as he shifts his focus to LCM. Finke is among the favorites to represent the US in the distance events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this summer.