Tokyo Flashback: Bobby Finke Does it Again to Claim Distance Double<\/strong><\/p>\n

One year has passed since the Olympic Games, delayed by a year due to COVID-19, unfolded in Tokyo. To celebrate what went down in the Japanese capital, Swimming World is revisiting the championship finals \u2013 each on their one-year anniversary \u2013 by once again running the stories that were posted after the medals were decided.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Bobby Finke, bottom, surges past Mykhailo Romanchuk of Romania in teh final 50 of the 1,500 free; Photo Courtesy: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI saw all three of us were kind of neck and neck,\u201d Finke said. \u201cI knew from my 800 I had the ability to switch gears for the final 50. So I was trying to keep it clean as possible in the last 300 to hold on and just build off it at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The selection came around the 600-meter mark, with the top four from the 800 free again separating themselves. Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri,<\/strong> the reigning gold medalist and only holdover finalist from the Rio Olympics, took the edge through the first 300. He would fade to fourth. Florian Wellbrock<\/strong> took the baton at the 400 mark, with Ukraine\u2019s Mykhailo Romanchuk<\/strong> in tow. Finke, as is becoming his style, hung around with the group, keeping it long and clean and lurking for his chance.<\/p>\n
As he did in the 800, he turned it on for the bell lap. He split a ludicrous 25.78 on the final leg to win. That was a full second faster than Romanchuk and nearly two seconds faster than Wellbrock in 27.76. Finke was faster coming home in the 1,500 than he was even in the 800, when he split 26.39 off the end.<\/p>\n
Romanchuk surged past Wellbrock, who led for more than 1,000 meters, into another medal, this time silver. Paltrinieri landed off the medal stand by four seconds.<\/p>\n
Finke swam so fast he even surprised himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor myself, I didn\u2019t know I had these swims in me,\u201d Finke said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve just gained a lot of confidence with Coach (Anthony<\/strong>) Nesty<\/strong> being here. Even during the training trip, I was having some of the best practices of my life, so it gave me a huge confidence boost coming here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we necessarily saw the performance in the 800 going the way that it went, but we certainly saw it coming in the mile,\u201d men\u2019s head coach Dave Durden<\/strong> said, calling Nesty, who is Finke\u2019s coach at the University of Florida and a U.S. assistant, the staff MVP. \u201cI think everybody in the building knew what was coming down that last 100 of the mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Bobby Finke and Anthony Nesty are a mood ??? #GoGators<\/a> #GatorOlympians<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vpsa6fmYDE<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) July 29, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n