Clearwater's Bobby Finke wins gold in 800 meters
USA's Robert Finke reacts after winning the final of the men's 800m freestyle swimming event during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on July 29, 2021. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Gett
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Bobby Finke, who is from Clearwater, has captured gold in the debut of the men’s 800-meter swimming freestyle event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri grabbed the silver after leading most of the race, while the bronze went to Mykhailo Romachuk of Ukraine.
It was a thrilling finish for the former Countryside High student. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock grabbed the lead from Paltrinieri on the final flip, with Finke lurking back in fourth. But the American turned on a dazzling burst of speed at the end of the 16-lap race, passing all three swimmers ahead of him to take the gold.
Finke’s winning time was 7 minutes, 41.87 seconds, just 0.24 ahead of Paltrinieri. Romachuk finished in 7:42.33, knocking Wellbrock back to fourth.
The men’s 800 freestyle was added to the Olympic program for the Tokyo Games, marking the first time that approximate distance was contested by the men since there was an 880-yard race at the 1904 St. Louis Games.
Caeleb Dressel, whose three previous golds were all on relays, lived up to the hype at an Olympics where several U.S. stars have faltered.
The most dominant swimmer of the post-Michael Phelps era filled in the last hole on his resume, winning a gold all by himself with two furious laps of the pool Thursday.
"I knew that weight was on my shoulders," he said after a nail-biting victory in the 100-meter freestyle over defending champion Kyle Chalmers of Australia.
After Phelps retired, Dressel, who attended the University of Florida, emerged as the world’s dominant swimmer. He turned in staggering performances at the last two world championships, earning seven gold medals at Budapest in 2017, followed by a six-gold, two-silver performance at Gwangju in 2019.
Katie Ledecky got another shot at Ariarne Titmus, but this time neither won gold. China knocked off both the Americans and the Australians with a world-record performance in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
Dressel’s gold was the second of the morning for the Americans, who got a surprise victory from Finke in the Olympic debut of the men’s 800 free.