2020 TOKYO SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- When: Pool swimming: Saturday, July 24 – Sunday, August 1, 2021
- Open Water swimming: Wednesday, August 4 – Thursday, August 5, 2021
- Where: Olympic Aquatics Centre / Tokyo, Japan
- Heats: 7 PM / Semifinals & Finals: 10:30 AM (Local time)
- Full aquatics schedule
- SwimSwam Event Previews
- Entry Lists
- Live Results
- Day 8 Finals Heat Sheet
- Men’s Medley Relay Lineups
- Women’s Medley Relay Lineups
The last time the US men won a 1500 free at the Olympics was 1984, when Mike O’Brien and George DiCarlo took gold and silver. Three short years later, a character from a classic film uttered these famous words that could arguably apply to US men’s distance swimming in the 37 years since the Los Angeles Games.
It only so happens your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between all dead and mostly dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.
Coming into this week, the US men hadn’t won a single gold medal in the 400, 800, or 1500 free at either the Olympics or long course World Championships since 1984. There’d been a smattering of silver and bronze, but fans and pundits alike wondered what was going on with the US men, especially when Katie Ledecky was dominating women’s swimming the last 8+ years and racking up the golds.
When analyzing the US men’s lack of distance of distance success, some have blamed the NCAA system, which prioritizes the sprint events. We’ve seen some incredible speed in the 500 and 1650 free, but recent U.S. Open Record holders like Clark Smith and Zane Grothe hadn’t translated that speed into medals at major international meets. Some have blamed US club coaches for pivoting from mega-yards training to more race-paced training. Some pointed to Ledecky’s success and said it indicated that the men’s downturn was merely a cyclical dip.
Whatever the reasons, tonight Bobby Finke put the discussion to rest for at least a time, as he stormed home on the final length of the 1500 free to bring home the first gold in the event in 37 years, and touch in a time of 14:39.65. It wasn’t an incredibly fast race, as the last two Olympic gold medal times were 14:31.02 (2012) and 14:34.57 (2016). Instead, it was a tactical race, as Finke held pace with Mykhailo Romanchuk and Florian Wellbrock most of the way, then shifted into a high gear over the last lap. To put Finke’s closing speed into perspective, his final split of 25.78 was faster than any non-leadoff split in the final of the men’s 200 free this week. Sun Yang, when he set the world record in 2012, closed just slightly faster in 25.68.
As it stands, Finke is now the 2nd-fastest American of all time, just behind Connor Jaeger, who went 14:39.48 at the 2016 Olympics en route to silver. Finke’s time also moves him just inside the top ten worldwide all-time.
Top U.S. Men Performers All Time, 1500 Free
- Connor Jaeger – 14:39.38, 2016
- Bobby Finke – 14:39.65, 2021
- Jordan Wilimovsky – 14:45.03, 2016
- Larsen Jensen – 14:45.29, 2004
- Peter Vanderkaay – 14:45.54, 2008
Finke has long been a promising distance swimmer, with a solid long course pedigree as a teenager. He won this event at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and made the senior 2017 World Championship team before he had graduated high school in 2018. As a freshman at the University of Florida, he was initially named to the 2019 World University Games team before having to withdraw due to a wrist injury. The next year, he began to make his mark on the yards record books as he demolished the U.S. Open Record in the 1650 at SECs.
While Finke hasn’t quite broken that record yet, he notched 14:12 on two more occasions — at this year’s SEC and NCAA Championships. Although, even his SEC performance this year wasn’t without drama, as he was spotted walking around on deck with a walking boot just before the championships commenced. Whatever the injury may have been, it doesn’t seem to have caused much of an issue for Finke.
We’ve made this far into the article without mentioning that Finke also won the inaugural Olympic men’s 800 free earlier this week, making him one of a handful of US men over the last few decades to win two individual gold freestyle medals in the same Olympics.
Finke’s Florida teammate, Kieran Smith, picked up a bronze medal in the 400 free this week. Coupled with Caeleb Dressel’s 50/100 free sweep, University of Florida, current or alumni, accounted for all five of the US men’s individual freestyle medals in Tokyo, helping provide some much-needed stability to what’s been a week of ups and downs for the US men’s team.
It’s too soon to tell whether the US men’s distance success this week will prove to be merely an outlier, or whether Finke and Smith will help lead a whole new wave of US men to distance excellence at the international level. Whichever way the future lies, for now, the USA men’s distance swimming is not all dead, or even mostly dead. Tonight, it’s fully alive.
The legendary Vladimir Salnikov would have won in 1984 if USSR didn’t boycott the olympic.
Finke is an incredible closer, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that he has a great 200 in him. Same with the commenters comparing his closes with 100s and 200s; it’s not quite the same.
1) In distance running races, the truism is that the runner with the best kick is the runner with the most left. I believe this particularly applies to Finke’s 1500m, where he was clearly pacing off Romanchuk and Wellbrock. Every swimmer in the field could swim a 25-second 50 (even Paltrinieri lol). Finke likely had a bit more in the tank than his competitors.
2) The physiology of the last 50 is a bit different in a 200 than in an 800/1500 (and 400 is in… Read more »
Livestream Andy is right on, folks.
Do you think it’s equivalent to how those track guys can run blazing times with rabbits, and that Finke could be dragged to a crazy PR the same way? I think it’d be fascinating.
This is a great question. I’ve long wondered whether times could be brought down substantially by employing pacemakers. Relay splits (Lezak, Scott) suggest that there could be big advantages if you hit it just right. It doesn’t really fit with the culture of swimming to swim your best times at anything but championship meets, which is probably why we don’t see this happen.
If I were Duncan Scott, I’d pay Nathan Adrian next week to come pace me in a 200 freestyle and give me 125m of draft. Got to imagine that’s worth a 1:43. I’d bet Dressel could finally get under Cielo’s 100 free record if he could catch Manadou’s draft for the first 50 (easier said than done… Read more »
Ooh I didn’t think about the “riding the wave” aspect, I was mostly just thinking of bringing guys around on pace. I suppose it’s not super comparable to track championships, where those guys are prolly running like 50% for most of it, the swimmers in the 1500 were revving significantly higher.
Saturday morning practices before Bobby left for Florida, Coach Fred Lewis would have Chelsea Nauta in fins and paddles racing Bobby (no fins or paddles) in 100’s and 200’s Long Course.
Grateful to come across this discussion as I’d encountered the 200/400 question in threads elsewhere. It also seems Ledecky is a swimmer with plenty of a) and not as much b) based on the events she dominates versus actual competition (Titmus).
EVERYBODY SAY THANK YOU NESTY AND STEVE 🐊
Florida also has two guys who went 3:47 this summer (Freeman and Mestre) on their college team.
Ahmed Hafnaoui, if you are thinking of swimming in the NCAA, orange and blue would look great on you.
Trey Freeman at FL closes well. I hope to see him in 3 years.
Finke’s strategy and execution in both races was beautiful to watch
American men’s distance is dead. Finke is the only one
hey now … Finke may inspire others to pick it up. But yea, it’s a one stop shop at this point.
Other than maybe Italy who isn’t a one stop shop right now?
I have faith in Magahey (sp?), and the Indiana kid is young, Jake Mitchell is obviously on the big stage now… We have pieces, next cycle is definitely crucial. I see us performing better in the 400lcm, with Mitchell becoming a medal threat.
Also, it’s not like WIlimowsky or Grothe were bad, they posted top class times, finaled, etc. at major international meets. Plus, doesn’t WIlimowsky do better in the open water? Same with the Brinegar.
The bigger question is: why do we seemingly “underperform” at the Olympics, shoot even Trials (Grothe) in distance events?
Finke is just 21…….he has another cycle at least in him. Mitchel is what 19. I think we are cycling up. And we just haven’t had a world’s best lately, but have had several in the finals, including the silver medalist in Rio.
Bobby Finke is 21, Kieran Smith is 21, Michael Brinegar is 21, Andrew Abruzzo is 21, Ross Dant is 20, Jake Magahey is 19, Jake Mitchell is 19….
David Johnston is 19 and made huge strides in the 400 im and mile this year
Finke was amazing in both events, with more wits, strategy and confidence, than the other three combined. That said, all three Europeans had to lose (as in: fail in some respect) for Finke to win,as they are all ridiculously talented and fast. But we don’t know yet, how much Finke had left in him, if they had a faster pace
If I had wheels I’d be a trolly. The race was what it was. The Europeans didn’t learn their lesson from the 800, so they simply repeated their mistake.
He should be anchoring the 4×2. 1:43 split.