Team USA swimmer Bobby Finke had the race — and finish — of a lifetime Thursday morning at the Tokyo Olympics (Wednesday night in the U.S.). And the first-time Olympian pulled off a truly stunning comeback to win gold in the first-ever men’s 800-meter freestyle.
In the new event added to the Olympic lineup this year — along with the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle — 21-year-old Finke didn’t look to be in contention for a medal for most of the race.
In fact, he was fifth going into the final 100 meters, and as he and the field approached their final flip turn, Finke was still almost half a body length behind the race leaders. Coming off the final turn in fourth, Finke trailed Germany’s Florian Wellbrock, Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri and Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuck.
But then Finke turned on the jets and absolutely crushed his final 50, and it’s amazing he even had that much energy left after the first 750 meters. His last 50 split was 26.39, which is extremely fast at the end of this distance race.
Look at this jaw-dropping finish at the end of his comeback:
I FINKE. I CAN. @Robert_Finke takes GOLD in the first ever Olympic men's 800M freestyle in a THRILLER!
📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/Sdse4JEfNh
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/OulFLF9tfY— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021
With only 25 meters left, Finke was dead even with the leaders and cruised ahead of them to win the first-ever men’s 800 free Olympic gold.
He finished with a time of 7:41.87 — out-touching silver medalist Paltrinieri by just .24 seconds, while Romanchuck won bronze.
Finke’s incredible gold-medal finish even caught the attention of his teammate, Caeleb Dressel, who stopped in the warm-up pool to watch his fellow Florida Gator win it all:
Just one @FloridaGators swimmer supporting another!
Caeleb Dressel's reaction to Bobby Finke's victory was awesome! #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/n2BEHLuyIS
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2021
What a great swim for Finke in his Olympic debut.
