American Finke surges to take gold in 800 free
In a thrilling finish, Bobby Finke rallied to win gold for the U.S. in the men’s 800-meter freestyle Thursday at the…
TOKYO — Bobby Finke of the United States has captured gold in the debut of the men’s 800-meter swimming freestyle event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri grabbed the silver after leading most of the race, and the bronze went to Mykhailo Romachuk of Ukraine.
It was a thrilling finish. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock grabbed the lead from Paltrinieri on the final flip, with Finke lurking back in fourth. But the American turned on a dazzling burst of speed at the end of the 16-lap race, passing all three swimmers ahead of him to take the gold.
Finke’s winning time was 7 minutes, 41.87 seconds, just 0.24 ahead of Paltrinieri. Romachuk finished in 7:42.33, knocking Wellbrock back to fourth.
The men’s 800 freestyle was added to the Olympic program for the Tokyo Games, marking the first time that approximate distance was contested by the men since there was an 880-yard race at the 1904 St. Louis Games.
In the men’s 200-meter breaststroke, Australia’s Izaac Stubblety-Cook set an Olympic record to capture the gold.
Stubblety-Cook won in 2:06.38, edging out Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands (2:07.01), who took the silver. Finland’s Matti Mattsson won the bronze.
The finals for the women’s 200-meter butterfly, men’s 100-meter freestyle and women’s 4x200m freestyle relay also were scheduled for Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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