Olympic champion Bobby Finke of the United States won the men’s 800m freestyle at the World Championships on Tuesday with a late electric strike to finish ahead of Florian Wellbrock of Germany and Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine.
Finke’s win was a boost for the US team after Olympic 100m freestyle champion and reigning world champion Caeleb Dressel was knocked out of the semifinals in that event for medical reasons.
Finke, who sat in fourth for most of the race and remained behind three swimmers in the final inning, posted a personal best of 7:39.36.
As he did in Tokyo, Finke prepared his race to perfection, completing a brilliant final 50 metres, in 25.93 seconds to get ahead of his European rivals.
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“I know I just have to stick with them and stay with what I’m good at to the finish line,” Finke said. “I know the 50th length is going to hurt but it’s worth it.”
Losing to Dressel means he will miss out on a much-anticipated showdown with Romanian teen talent David Popovici, who won the 200m freestyle on Monday.
China’s Yang Junxuan won the women’s 200m freestyle in a time of 1:54.92 beating Australia’s highly rated 18-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan, who was behind 0.30 silver.
The Chinese had two medals to celebrate as Muhan Tang took bronze ahead of Britain’s Freya Anderson.
