This time around, Bobby Finke wins silver in the 800-meter freestyle with his finishing kick.
Bobby Finke is renowned for swimming distance freestyle races from the rear, like a predator snaring his prey. However, the hunter has turned into the hunted since he took home a gold medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle event three years ago at the Olympics.
An Irish swimmer wearing a beret bravely repelled the hunter during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Halfway through the race, Daniel Wiffen took the lead and kept it, hoping he had enough of a lead over Finke to keep him at bay.
By a little more than a half-second, he did. In the pool, Wiffen captured Ireland‘s first Olympic gold medal, and Finke secured the silver medal thanks to his kick. Finke overtook Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, the 2020 Olympic silver medallist, in the final 50 meters, just as he had in Tokyo. However, this time, Finke brought home silver and the Italian bronze.
Finke grinned and replied, “I like to win.” You know, it’s terribly disappointing to lose. Even though it’s not a gold, I have to admit that I really gave my best, and I should be proud of it. But it’s over, you know. There’s nothing to be upset about.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, Finke’s winning time was more over three seconds faster, clocking in at 3:38.75. If Finke hadn’t been swimming against Wiffen, the Olympic record would have been smashed. With a run of 7:38.19, the Irishman cut more than three seconds off the previous Olympic record.
How has Finke, 24, managed to become the hunted at the Paris Games after being the hunter at the 2020 Olympic Games?
After the 800, he remarked, “It’s fun.” “I never really thought I’d be in this position.”
As a relatively unknown swimmer from the University of Florida who had won the mile at the NCAA championships the previous year, Finke joined the U.S. Olympic Team three years ago. He did not think of himself as a medal possibility at the Tokyo Games until he qualified third in the first men’s 800 and reached the final. It wasn’t until the final 10 meters of the race in the final that he believed he could win an Olympic gold medal. He went from fifth to first in the last lap.
A few days later, he accomplished the same feat in the 1,500 freestyle, winning another gold medal at the Olympics. The numerous Olympic and world championship gold that Finke and Katie Ledecky had brought distance freestyle back into the public eye.
Finke went back to Florida to complete his construction management undergraduate degree after the Tokyo Games. However, he now understood that swimming was his job, one that he had to juggle with his studies. He frequently packed his own lunches because his schedule was so hectic that he did not have time to visit the dining hall.
He made this joke earlier in the year: “I felt like I was in elementary school again.”
The effort was fruitful. Finke demonstrated at the 2022 world championships that his Olympic medals were no accident. In the 1,500, he took home silver and won the 800 once more. He gave up the 800 championship in 2023, but he was still on the podium (third in the 800), and he decreased the American record to 7:38.67 as younger swimmers started to learn the Finke Finish. He took home another silver in the 1,500.
Finke knew it would be difficult, but he came to Paris with the intention of defending his Olympic gold in the 800 and the next 1,500 as well. Wiffen, 23, has won every distance freestyle competition he has participated in this year and is currently the 800 free world champion. Additionally, 29-year-old Paltrinieri has won numerous Olympic medals, including the gold in the 1,500 in the Rio 2016 Games.
Olympic and Florida Gator coach Anthony Nesty informed Finke prior to the Olympic 800 that the opposition has been preparing to defeat him since the previous Olympics.
Finke remarked, “I kind of took that to heart,” but in a positive manner. “Oh, that’s kind of nice,” I thought. I attempted to use it as a tool to boost my self-esteem and feel good about myself throughout the race.
Finke began the 800-meter swim slowly and finished the first half of the race in fifth place. Wiffen, nevertheless, made it obvious who he was observing.
“All I was doing for the last 150 meters was looking at Bobby Finke,” Wiffen claimed. “Well, he’s not the quickest anymore, but this person returns the fastest. For the last 20 meters, I was dying.
In actuality, Wiffen, Finke, and Paltrinieri—the three medalists—have been observing one another for years. Finke saw the Italian team during the 2012 Olympic Games in London as a child. At the Tokyo Games, Wiffen observed Finke and Paltrinieri, the Irish swimmer placing 14th in the 800 and 20th in the 1,500. Finke and Paltinieri are now seeing Wiffen’s well-liked vlog.
“Seeing what he’s doing and how he approaches training and the records he wants to break, sometimes I use it to motivate me in practice,” Finke said.
Wiffen will be the hunted in the 1,500 (heats on August 3, final on August 4) because of the gold in the 800, and maybe Finke can, well, outfink him.
Finke expressed his excitement at the prospect of competing against these guys once more in the 1,500. “I believe we are capable of some really amazing feats. Considering how today went, I believe we could push the envelope.
