Finke Confirms 800 Defence As Young Whitlock Steps Up For Olympic Debut
Bobby Finke confirmed the defence of the first of his Olympic crowns with a 7:44.22 win in the 800m freestyle, drawing young Luke Whitlock, 18, with him to a Games debut on day 4 at U.S. Trials for Paris.
On a day that witnessed a 57.13 World record from Regan Smith in the 100m backstroke, Finke, coached alongside Katie Ledecky by pioneer Olympic ‘fly champion of 1988 Anthony Nesty at the Florida Gators in Gainesville, took control from the blocks and was never led throughout the 16 lengths to Olympic selection.
A glance at the splits shows how Whitlock stuck to the champ like glue, spending the first half of the race within a second of Finke the pace-setter and then up to 1.8sec away until the last 100m when he sprinted back to finish within a second of Finke on 7:45.19. Good hunger.
Only one other in the race got inside 7:50, Daniel Matheson, on 7:49.34, with David Johnston fourth in 7:50.23.
Finke now heads to Paris on a different trajectory to his approach to Tokyo three years ago. Back then, he was not exactly ‘unknown’ but he’d yet to show what he’d been working on: a killer finish.
At the 2020one Covid-delayed Games, he unleashed finishing speeds in both the 800 and 1500m to deliver double distance gold for self and the USA in spectacular style. Since then, the 30-length crew has steadily worked on how to deal with Finke’s punishing closing pace. Gregorio Paltrinieri, the 2016 Olympic 1500m champion, gave the biggest hint when he claimed the 2022 World title in Budapest from an outside lane: the Italian set such a sizzling pace from the get go that he built a gain sufficiently big enough to hold on to when under pressure from the hunters chasing in the race for the safe haven of hand-on-wall-first.
Passage To Paris For Finke & Whitlock
In Semi Finals:
Men’s 100m free: after a 47.08 from Jack Alexy in heats, the pace tightened with the tension, Chris Giuliano at the top for lane 4:
Women’s 100 free: Torri Huske goes into the showdown with the sole sub-53 so far, 2016 Olympic champion Simone Manuel closest:
Men’s 200 butterfly: Luca Urlando leads a tight field into the final fight just ahead of Thomas Heilman:
Men’s 200m breaststroke: Matt Fallon & Ananias Pouch Head The Charge To Decision Day
