International Team Trials: Nic Fink Surges to Forge Tie With Charlie Swanson in 200 Breaststroke
Nic Fink will be going to the World Championships in the 200-meter breaststroke. That outcome was not a surprise during the second night of the USA Swimming International Team Trials. Joining him in the event in Budapest this summer will be Charlie Swanson. That outcome was a shock.
The fact that they tied? That was a stunner.
Utilizing different approaches at the Greensboro Aquatic Center, Fink and Swanson deadlocked in the 200 breast, as each man registered a time of 2:08.84. The pair finished ahead of Jake Foster, who checked in at 2:09.73 for third place. Both Fink and Swanson will be making their debuts at the long-course version of the World Champs.
Swanson pressed the pace from the start, as he was second following the opening 50 meters and held the lead at the 100-meter mark (1:01.06) and at the 150-meter wall (1:36.60). Fink adopted a more conservative race plan, as he went through the midway point of the race in 1:02.23 and split 1:35.26 at the 150-meter mark. The key for Fink was his closing speed, and knowledge that he was within striking distance over the last lap. While Swanson hung tough on the final length, splitting 34.24, Fink put together a finish of 33.58 to make it a dead heat.
“That’s usually my M.O.,” Fink said of his late flurry. “It’s worked so far. You never really know how anyone is feeling the last 50. People can come home in 34 or 32.0. You have to be in the race and be able to bring it home at any point. I like to have a little gas in the tank that last 100 and let it rip that last 50.”
The path to star status for Fink has been gradual, patience a defining characteristic for the University of Georgia product. But now that Fink has rented space in the penthouse of the sport, it’s clear he has no intention of breaking his lease. The seventh-place finisher in both breaststroke events at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, Fink qualified for the World Championships in 2017, but missed out in 2019, along with the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships. Those misses, though, didn’t mean Fink wasn’t making progress, and he proved he belonged on the big stage when he qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the 200 breaststroke.
Fink left his first Olympics with a fifth-place effort, and followed several months later with titles in the 50 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke at the World Short Course Championships. That competition also included a bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke, and backed up the 28-year-old’s consistently strong performances in the International Swimming League.
“I’m sure if people got the finish on camera, they’ll catch me squinting a lot,” Fink said. “My eyesight isn’t great. So when I saw a couple of ones (on the scoreboard) and figuring out which lane was which, I wasn’t sure what was going. It was great to see (Swanson) get that win as well. It will be great to train with him at camp.”
For Swanson, the 200 breaststroke has never been his primary event, that distinction going to the 400 individual medley. But after a strong effort during the morning prelims, the University of Michigan product figured to be a factor and he took advantage of the opportunity. The aggressive approach was deemed his best chance to qualify for Worlds, and that decision proved correct.
At last summer’s Olympic Trials in Omaha, Swanson just missed qualifying for the final of the 200 breaststroke, due to a ninth-place showing in the semifinals. Now, he is more than two seconds faster than the 2:11.10 he managed. With Swanson now qualified for the World Championships, he’ll carry significant confidence into the 400 medley, where a stacked field will battle to represent the United States. Swanson was 13th in the 400 IM at Trials.
“It’s super exciting,” Swanson said. “I came in here with the (400 IM) at the front my mind. I knew I had to go out really fast that front half because a bunch of the guys are back-halfers. If I got really far ahead, I could hold on and that’s what happened. It worked out really well.”
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