2022 U.S. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS
In the final heat of the men’s 800 free this evening, Florida’s Bobby Finke smashed Zane Grothe‘s 2018 US Open Record with a 7:43.32, chopping over a full second off Grothe’s record. The defending Olympic champion now sits third in the world this year, behind the German duo of Lukas Martens and Florian Wellbrock.
Finke even split his race this evening, swimming 3:51.64 over the first 400 meters and then closing in 3:51.68. Those splits included his now-signature blazing final 50 of 27.19. His swim was also less than a second and a half off of his gold medal-winning time from last summer.
| 1st 50 split | 2nd 50 split | |
| 100 | 27.10 | 29.13 |
| 200 | 29.02 | 29.20 |
| 300 | 29.38 | 29.13 |
| 400 | 29.38 | 29.30 (3:51.64) |
| 500 | 29.37 | 29.23 |
| 600 | 29.46 | 29.03 |
| 700 | 29.25 | 29.05 |
| 800 | 29.10 | 27.19 (7:43.32) |
After missing the SEC Championships and some training time in February due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Finke now seems primed to make a podium run at the end of June. His 1500 this week was a strong 14:45.72 to rank him third in the world, to go along with his third-ranking 800 from tonight.
| 2 | Florian Wellbrock |
GER | 7:43.10 | 04/12 |
| 3 | Bobby Finke |
USA | 7:43.32 | 04/30 |
| 4 | Felix Auboeck |
AUT | 7:45.32 | 04/12 |
| 5 | Gregorio Paltrinieri |
ITA | 7:46.01 | 04/11 |
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Finke will be joined in both the 800 and 1500 by Ohio State’s Charlie Clark at this summer’s World Championships. Clark swam a pair of huge lifetime bests this week to qualify for the Worlds team, dropping 12 seconds in the 1500 and nearly 4 and a half seconds in the 800.