The Fink brothers, Nic and Bobby, have won their first swimming world championships.
This past Tuesday, Fink and Finke struck gold.
At the FINA World Championships on Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary, Nic Fink, an Olympian in 2020, won his first two world titles, while Bobby Finke, an Olympic winner twice in Tokyo, won his first.
Their efforts were the highlight of an otherwise successful day for the United States, which took home four medals overall and one gold in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay despite the withdrawal of seven-time Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel due to a medical issue.
To add to his two Freestyle Distance gold Medals from Tokyo 2020, Finke won the men’s 800-meter freestyle final in a Thrilling come-from-behind finish.
Finke was in fourth place going into the final 50 metres, but he swam incredibly fast and passed the three swimmers ahead of him.
As a result of his victory in 7 minutes, 39.36 seconds, he set a new American record in Tokyo. The final 50 metres of the race were completed by Fink in 25.93 seconds, over a second quicker than any other 50 metres of the race.
In an interview following the game, Finke told NBC Sports, “It’s only like 26 seconds of suffering.”
The 22-year-old Finke won the gold medal in Tokyo after beating out Florian Wellbrock of Germany, Mykhailo Romanchuk of the Ukraine, and Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy. On Tuesday, almost the exact same thing occurred, with the exception that Wellbrock ended in second place and Paltrinieri in fourth.
Finke had already won the 800 and 1,500 metres at the Tokyo Olympics, making this victory his third consecutive in a major international competition. On the final day of swimming finals in Budapest, the 1,500 is scheduled to take place.
The native of Clearwater, Florida, said, “This whole last season is pretty successful.” With Tokyo behind me and my own expectations up, this one means a little bit more.
While leading the United States to a 1-3 finish in the men’s 50-meter breaststroke, Fink took home his first global gold.
With a time of 26.45 seconds, Fink crossed the finish line first, three-hundredths of a second ahead of Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy. The third-place finish in the 50-breast time of 26.72 seconds earned Michael Andrew, another American, his second bronze medal of the week.
Originally from Morristown, New Jersey, 28-year-old Fink won a second gold medal at these global championships after swimming the second leg of the mixed 4×100 medley relay. On Sunday, he competed in the 100 breaststroke and came away with a bronze medal.
The mixed 4×100 medley relay was won by Olympic teammates Hunter Armstrong, Fink, Torri Huske, and Claire Curzan. The Americans won with a timing of 3:38.79, over three seconds faster than the second-place finishers from Australia.
I Appreciated the tip so much.
Having swum the anchor freestyle and won her third medal of the week alongside Huske, Curzan was confident in the success of her teammates.
All I wanted to do was keep the momentum going. The 100 free is notoriously difficult, but I think the enthusiasm I gained from the audience helped me cross the finish line first.
Dressel, who was aiming to make history by becoming the first male swimmer to win three consecutive world titles in the same three events, was forced to withdraw from the relay final and the men’s 100 free semifinals due to injury. In the heats leading up to the finals, he ran the 100-meter dash in 47.95 seconds, good enough for second place.
After Placing first in his first two finals in Budapest, Dressel took home two gold medals.
On Saturday, he was a part of the victorious men’s 4×100 free relay team, and on Sunday, he won the 50 butterfly.
Relay gold champion Brooks Curry swam a 100-meter freestyle in 47.90 seconds to take sixth in his semifinal heat on Wednesday and advance to the final.
In the men’s 200 fly, Luca Orlando finished fifth, just over a second behind the winner and world record holder Kristof Milak of the host country of Hungary (1:50.34). As for Orlando, he crossed the line in 1 minute, 54.92 seconds.
Regan Smith, a three-time Olympic champion who has already won gold this week in the 100-meter backstroke, placed first in his semis heat of the 50-meter event and second in the 200-meter butterfly heat on Tuesday and will compete in both finals on Wednesday.
Conclusion
After saying that he was “definitely just trying to absorb in every moment,” Smith emphasised this sentiment. It’s simply that, in the heat of the moment, I am really anxious and wish for this to end as soon as possible.
So, I simply want to take it easy and savour this moment. Keep in mind that this experience will soon be nothing more than a memory, and I will never have the chance to repeat it.