Bobby Finke ended a drought for the US men in the pool on Sunday night in style, winning gold and breaking the 1500m freestyle world record. The news got better for the Americans shortly afterwards when the women broke the 4x100m medley record.
Fiske’s was the first individual men’s swimming gold for the US at these Olympics. If they had been shut out, it would have been the first time since 1900 an American man had failed to win an individual gold in the pool, excluding the 1980 Moscow Games, which the US boycotted.
Finke was under world record pace the entire race and accelerated in the final length to ensure he set a new mark. He touched in 14 minutes and 30.67 seconds to break the record of 14:31.02 set by China’s Sun Yang at the 2012 London Olympics.
The silver went to Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri in 14:34.55, while race favorite Daniel Wiffen of Ireland couldn’t follow up his triumph in the 800m freestyle. He was never a factor and settled for the bronze in 14:39.63, barely holding off Hungary’s David Betlehem for the final spot on the podium.
Lilly King made up for a disappointing showing in her individual events by powering the Americans to the lead on the breaststroke segment of the women’s 4x100m medley. Then it was Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, two of the biggest US stars at these Games, bringing it home in 3:49.63 to break the record of 3:50.40 set by the US at the 2019 world championships. Regan Smith led off in the backstroke leg, finally earning her first career gold.
Katie Ledecky, Finke’s training partner, was celebrating in the crowd as she watched her teammates break the two world records.
After the race, Finke said he had been encouraged to start quickly. “My coaches told me just to go out early and it ended up working pretty well,” he said.
Finke became the first male swimmer to go back-to-back in the gruelling 30-lap event since Australia’s Grant Hackett in 2000 and 2004 and the first American since Mike Burton in 1968 and 1972. The 24-year-old also won gold in the 800m freestyle at the Tokyo Games.
Finke set the third swimming world record of these Olympics and provided a much-needed jolt for the American team, who lead the overall medal count but had endured a series of disappointing results from some of their biggest swimmers.
It was not all good news for the US men though. Their 64-year unbeaten run in the men’s 4x100m medley ended as China swept to a seismic win in the next race of the night.
The Chinese quartet of Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Sun Jiajun and Pan Zhanle edged the US into silver by 0.55sec. France took the bronze.
Apart from 1980, the US had never been beaten in the men’s medley final dating back to the inaugural event at the 1960 Rome Games.
