Bobby Finke, Torri Huske Earn Race of the Year Awards at Golden Goggles
Five months after the U.S. Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis became the best-attended swim meet event, USA Swimming has returned to the city for the annual Golden Goggles Awards, honoring the top-achieving athletes and best performances of the year.
To the little surprise, the event kicked off with recognition for Torri Huske and Bobby Finke, two swimmers who won individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics in stunning fashion.
Finke got the nod on the men’s side for top performance for his gold medal in the 1500 freestyle, in which he departed from his normal race strategy to lead from start to finish, and he broke Sun Yang’s 12-year-old world record in the process. Finke has become the most consistent male swimmer in the country, and this is the fourth consecutive year in which he has received this honor for his distance races at major international competitions. The other men’s nominees were Nic Fink in the 100 breast and Luke Hobson in the 200 free.
Huske won the women’s Race of the Year award for her gold-medal-winning swim in the women’s 100 butterfly, when she came from behind to beat out American rival and world-record holder Gretchen Walsh. Huske beat out a pair of other gold-medal-winning swims for this award, Kate Douglass’ triumph in the 200 breaststroke and Katie Ledecky’s dominant swim in the 1500 free.
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The Breakout Swimmer of the Year honor went to Walsh, who swam the fastest short course yards time ever in four different individual events before qualifying for her first Olympic team. She ended the year with four Olympic medals, including 100 fly silver and two relay golds.
The Impact Award was given to Arlene McDonald, who was meet director at the U.S. Olympic Trials, while Rowdy Gaines was honored as USA Swimming’s Alumni of the Year. Gaines has been the television color analyst for NBC Sports at every Olympics since 1996. The Foundation Impact Award went to Scott and Lorraine Davison.