Could Bobby Finke Add the 400 Freestyle to His Lineup?

Bobby Finke -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Could Bobby Finke Add the 400 Freestyle to His Lineup?

If there’s one lap to go in a distance race and Bobby Finke is close, watch out. Chances are the 22-year-old Floridian will go into overdrive and get to the wall first, just like he did in stunning fashion at last year’s Olympics in the 800 freestyle final and again a few days later in the 1500 free. At last month’s World Championships, it was déjà vu in the 800 free as Finke flipped fourth with 50 meters to go, more than a second off the lead, and he closed in 25.93 to secure a world title.

A few days later in the 1500 free, we learned what kind of margin was enough to hold off Finke: six-and-a-half seconds. That’s how far ahead Gregorio Paltrinieri was with 50 meters remaining, so Finke had to settle for cutting the margin under four seconds as he stormed past Florian Wellbrock to earn silver and lobbed almost three seconds off Connor Jaeger’s six-year-old American record.

Finke is back in action this week at U.S. Nationals in Irvine, Calif., but he probably won’t be close to his American-record setting form in the distance races — not because he won’t be race-ready but because Finke rises to the level of his competition. When he was practically racing by himself in the finals at last year’s Olympic Trials and at this year’s NCAA Championships and International Team Trials, his times were fine but not close to what he could muster while racing against Paltrinieri, Wellbrock and Mykhailo Romanchuk at international competitions. And nobody racing in Irvine is close to Finke’s level in the 800 and 1500 free.

But in his two shorter events, the 400 IM and 400 free, Finke will have some competition. In the medley, it’s Great Britain’s Max Litchfield, an Olympic finalist in the event last year, and Finke has a history of some pretty incredible comebacks in the 400 IM as well. At the 2021 NCAA Championships, he ran down Carson Foster on the freestyle leg to win the 400-yard IM, and at International Team Trials in April, he nearly caught Chase Kalisz for second in the long course version of the race. So this could be an exciting head-to-head matchup if Litchfield is close to his best form.

As for the 400 free, Finke has rarely competed in that event at major competitions. The event schedule at last year’s Olympic Trials put the 400 IM and 400 free on the same day, and Finke chose the IM. But he is listed on the psych sheet to race the 400 free this week at Nationals, and if he indeed competes, he could quickly become one of the top swimmers in the country.

That’s in part because the men’s 400 free is one of the weaker events for the United States right now. Kieran Smith, Finke’s training partner at Florida, delivered a huge best time to claim bronze at the Olympics, but he was two seconds off his best time this year as he faded to seventh in Budapest. Another Florida Gator, Trey Freeman, qualified for the Worlds final, but he has never broken 3:46.

Jake Mitchell, who qualified for the Olympics in a solo 400 free time trial last year and went on to make the final in Tokyo, will be competing at Nationals after skipping the International Team Trials and then relocating to Gainesville to join Finke, Smith, Freeman and co. Smith is also set to swim the 400 free in Irvine, and the race will also include Jake Magahey, the 2021 NCAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle, and Luke Hobson, who was third this year at NCAAs as a freshman.

But aside from Smith, Finke has a higher ceiling than all of those men. Maybe his opening speed lags behind some of his competition, but we know he can shift gears and finish like no one else in the world. Against most of the country’s perceived best in the 400 free, Nationals could be a chance for Finke, the top distance swimmer in the U.S., to show what he can do in the eight-lap event.

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