Bobby Finke Edges Leon Marchand in 400 IM at TYR Pro Series Stop; Hubert Kos Dominates 200 Backstroke
The last two men’s events on Friday night at the TYR Pro Series in Fort Lauderdale featured a pair of Olympic champions claiming victory. Hungarian Hubert Kos cruised to a first-place finish in the 200 backstroke, his prime event, while Bobby Finke got his win in a secondary discipline.
Turning to his patented closing speed, Finke emerged on top in the 400-meter individual medley at the City of Fort Lauderdale Aquatics Center, out-dueling Olympic titlist Leon Marchand of France. Finke touched the wall in 4:13.67, just ahead of the 4:13.86 of Marchand. While Finke is a superb 400 IMer, he is best known for his prowess in the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle, events which have yielded four Olympic medals – three gold and a silver.
Finke controlled the first half of the 400 IM and used a strong backstroke leg to build a 2:02.11 to 2:05.06 advantage at the halfway point. Marchand erased his deficit on the breaststroke leg, thanks to a split of 1:10.69, and carried a 1.11-second lead into the freestyle leg. But Finke has long been known for tracking down the opposition in the closing stretches of races, and that’s what he did to win the 400 IM. Finke split 56.81 for his freestyle, compared to the 58.11 of Marchand.
As for Kos, he has been busy over the past six weeks. After winning three individual titles at the NCAA Championships in late March, where he led the University of Texas to the team crown, Kos returned home to excel at the Hungarian Championships. On Friday night, the 22-year-old starred in the event that made him an Olympic champion, winning the 200 backstroke in 1:56.45. That time was more than two seconds faster than runnerup Gavin Keogh (1:58.47).
Just a length into the race, Kos had built a .81 lead and he was never challenged. The biggest difficulty for Kos was contact with the lane lines, an issue not uncommon for backstrokers when swimming outdoors. When Kos arrives at the World Champs this summer in Singapore, he’ll be chasing his third straight global title in the 200 backstroke, as he was the world champ in 2023 before being crowned Olympic gold medalist.
Emma Weyant Impresses in 400 IM
A strong breaststroke leg from Emma Weyant lifted her to the No. 2 time in the world this year in the 400 individual medley. A two-time Olympic medalist in the event, Weyant turned in a performance of 4:33.95 to finish more than a second ahead of Ireland’s Ellen Walshe (4:35.32). Leah Hayes was also under 4:40, going 4:38.78 for third.
The silver medalist in the 400 IM in Tokyo and the bronze medalist in Paris, Weyant was in sixth place after the opening 100 meters and was third at the 200-meter mark. But a breaststroke split of 1:17.39 put Weyant more than a second ahead of Walshe going into the freestyle leg, and Weyant protected her lead.
