Olympic swimmer Bobby Finke chatted about the Word Cup in Indianapolis, his multiple Golden Goggle nominations, and his future plans.
FINA World Cup in Indianapolis
At the FINA World Cup in Indianapolis, he recently won the gold medal in the men’s 1,500 meter freestyle race with a time of 14:45.77. “That was fun, it was my first Short Course meet in swimming this year so I didn’t know what to expect. My time really wasn’t fast compared to what I believe I can potentially go. Getting first place in a Short Course meet is a lot of fun. I am happy about it,” he said.
Finke opened up about hearing the crowd cheer for him during his race. “It meant a lot, I used to be in their shoes. I wasn’t expecting anyone to go out fast so I panicked a bit. I tried to stick to my race plan and catch up as much as I could off each turn,” he said.
Golden Goggle nominations
A proud Florida Gator, Finke spoke about his multiple Golden Goggle nominations, which include nods for “Male Athlete of the Year” and “Male Race of the Year.” “It feels great to be recognized by USA Swimming and the people,” Finke said. “It means a lot to be one o the nominees for ‘Male Athlete of the Year,’ especially as a distance swimmer.”
Should he win “Male Athlete of the Year” he will make swimming history as the first long-distance swimmer to accomplish this feat. “If I win, I will be incredibly grateful,” Finke acknowledged. “That would be great because distance swimming has been good in America, especially in previous decades. To reclaim that spot from the ’70s and the ’80s would be awesome.”
Future plans
Regarding his future plans, Finke said, “Our next major meet is the Long Course Worlds in the summer. I won’t be competing at the Short Course Worlds in Melbourne this year. The timing of that meet is during Christmas training, and for me, that’s more important than going to Short Course Worlds. I am balancing out how I want to perform in the future.”
“I will be doing a ton of smaller meets along the way such as the TYR Pro Swim Series meets, and perhaps the U.S. Open in four weeks,” he added.
At the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Finke won two gold medals for Team USA in the men’s 800 meter and 1,500 meter freestyle races respectively.
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