A Bobby Finke Run at the 400 IM at Next Year’s Pan Pacs? The Potential is Enticing
The image of Bobby Finke that accompanies this article isn’t how the 26-year-old is typically depicted. We’re used to photos of Finke churning through the water via his signature freestyle, the stroke that has made him a three-time Olympic champion and world-record holder. But Finke has proven himself more than adept at the other strokes, and that versatility – coupled with his endurance – has made him one of the sport’s elite performers in the 400 individual medley.
Through the years, Finke has routinely contested the 400 IM as a complementary event to his go-to disciplines, packaging a handful of impressive performances. The best of the bunch was produced at the 2025 National Championships, which served as the United States’ selection meet for the World Championships in Singapore. At Nationals, Finke clocked a personal-best time of 4:07.46 and earned the right to contest the event at Worlds.
Ultimately, Finke declined that option to focus on the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle, but the veteran’s time sits third in the world rankings, trailing only Leon Marchand (4:04.73) and Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita (4:07.21). Of course, Marchand is the world-record holder and reigning Olympic champ in the 400 medley, while Matsushita was the silver medalist behind the Frenchman at the 2024 Games in Paris and the last edition of the World Champs.
We’ve written before about the fact that the 2026 season will be a fractured campaign, the lack of a global championship leading to a regionalized year. The 2025 calendar will include the European Championships, Commonwealth Games, Pan Pacific Championships and the Asian Games. For American athletes, the focus will be Pan Pacs, which are scheduled for August in Southern California.
Due to the Covid pandemic, the Pan Pacific Champs have not been held since 2018 and the upcoming edition will be conducted in a tight, four-day window at the William Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine. As far as Finke’s schedule is concerned, the 800 freestyle is slated for Day One, with the 1500 freestyle scheduled for Day Four. The 400 IM? It is set for Day Two. Does that mean Finke will get the chance to race the 400 medley on the international stage?
Finke may prefer to have a rest day after the 800 freestyle, and might want to go into the 1500 freestyle as fresh as possible. But on the road to the 2027 World Championships and 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Pan Pacs offers Finke his best chance to race the 400 IM in peak form. The question is whether that opportunity means something to the American star, who is slated to race the event at this week’s U.S. Open in Austin.
It certainly would be interesting to see Finke race at Pan Pacs against the likes of Team USA mate Carson Foster, along with Matsushita and a deep Japanese contingent in the 400 IM. What kind of performance can he deliver? Something under 4:07? Could it be faster? The intrigue lingers.
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