Bobby Finke restored Team USA’s faith in distance swimming this past summer winning Olympic gold in the 800m and 1500m freestyle. Bobby’s a meters-man, more dangerous in the long-pool, but with his 14:12 1650 and 3:36 400 IM from last year’s NCAA champs, he’s got yards covered.
We won’t see Bobby compete at SEC Championships due to health protocols, a major blow to the University of Florida Gators. However, in a tweet Bobby said he’s looking forward to competing with his teammates at NCAA Champs.
In this interview Bobby previews the college competitors he has his eye on, and he previews the summer beyond the college season.
NCAA PREDICTIONS
I think all swim-fans would love to see Bobby turn-on his 500 free. How fast will he swim 500 free at NCAAs after training with Kieran Smith who has been 4:06.32? I think Bobby should be 4:08, maybe 4:07 high, aiming for top-three. But who cares what I think. It’s all about what you think? Drop your opinion in the comments.
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Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
Why would faith in Team USA’s distance swimming need to be renewed after all of the success in recent years of Katie Ledecky?
Mel’s new beard!
laziness….
Too bad the NCAA doesn’t include both he 1000 and the 1650 at championship meets. With the Olympics and FINA now having both the 800 and the 1500 for men and women, wonder if that’s something the NCAA will consider adding.
Agreed. It would also allow distance swimmers to have more potential value in the recruiting process since currently, sprinters are heavily favored.
…yes…giving distance swimmers more value (for recruit dollars)
D2 does it and has been doing it since ~2000. It can/should be done
His times were commensurate to his improvement in short course. He hadn’t had a true opportunity to taper long course since 2018. He was injured in 19. Also, he has turns a sprinter would be proud of. He has to do far less work to stay in contact with the pack because his turns are so good.
Agreed, you’re probably right, he matched Sun Yang’s last 50 when he went 14:31. And that guy was far from clean
But it’s unwise to question the legitimacy of American athletes Jake.
Jake Magahey is the defending 500 champ
……Finke’s just got that gear…and can’t wait to see it again…
The subtle charlie clark mention 😳