2022 U.S. Trials: Finke Is the Oldest Entrant in the 1500 at Just 22

2022 U.S. International Team Trials

• April 26-30, 2022
• Greensboro, NC
• Greensboro Aquatic Center
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets

Thanks to SwimSwam Data Guru Barry Revzin for helping to compile this data.

The current top male distance swimmers in the U.S. are a young bunch. With the U.S. International Team Trials upon us, the oldest men entered in the 800 and 1500 freestyles are just 22 years old.

In the 1500, teammates Bobby Finke and Trey Freeman from the University of Florida are the oldest entrants. Both 22 years old, they will be competing against a field of mostly 17-19 year olds.

Update: Freeman has since scratched the 1500 but is currently still entered in the rest of the meet.

Finke and Freeman are both entered in the 800 as well, with fellow 22 year old Will Roberts rounding out the trio of “old” distance swimmers. Roberts is the oldest of the three, born in July of 1999. Finke and Freeman were born in November, 1999 and March, 2000 respectively.

The age range in both events is 15-22. The average age is 18.5 in the 800 and 18.6 in the 1500. By comparison, at the Olympic Trials in 2021 the average ages were 20.4 in the 800 and 20.1 in the 1500. The age range was 16-29 for both. At U.S. Nationals in 2018 (one of the meets used to select the 2019 World Championship team) average age was 19.5 in the 800 and 19.0 in the 1500, with the age range being 16-26 in both.

In 2018, Zane Grothe and Jordan Wilimovsky were at the top of the age range in both the 800 and 1500, being 27 and 25 respectively. In 2021, Grothe and Wilimovsky were entered in both races again, thus pushing the age range up 2 years. This year, Wilimovsky is not competing and Grothe is still entered in the meet, just not the long distance events. Their absences are one noticeable factor contributing to the overall lower age range.

In general, the field as a whole seems to be somewhat younger this year. Even in years where the age averages were lower, there was still a larger range of ages than there is this year. 

However, when it comes to the athletes who advance beyond trials, being on the younger side isn’t necessarily unusual. The average age of U.S. men’s distance swimmers at the last 4 Olympics and World Championships is 22.9. The actual ages of each selected athlete has fluctuated a bit over the years, with a few being unusually high (namely Grothe and Wilimovsky) and the occasional youngster (Finke in 2017). 

At the 2022 Trials, Finke is the top seed and heavy favorite in both the 800 and 1500 freestyles. He just finished a successful senior season at the University of Florida, earning a National Championship title in the 1650 yard freestyle at NCAAs in March. Finke also finished 9th in the 500 and 4th in the 400 IM.

A junior at the University of Florida, Freeman is seeded 6th in the 800. He also competed at the 2022 NCAAs, earning 11th place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyles and 15th place in the 1650.

Roberts, a graduate student swimming unattached for Cal-Berkeley, is the 11th seed in the 800.

At Trials, all three athletes will have full schedules. Finke is also entered in the 400 IM and 400 freestyle, seeded 4th and 9th respectively. Freeman rounds out his schedule with the 200 freestyle as the 13th seed and 400 freestyle as the 2nd seed. Roberts is entered in the 400 IM (18th seed), 400 freestyle (26th), and 200 butterfly (13th) well. 

At the 2022 Trials, the even with the highest average age is the Men’s 200 Meter Breastroke at 20.4. The lowest average age is 18 in both the Women’s 400 IM and the Women’s 200 Backstroke. Overall, the Women’s races tend to be slightly younger than the Men’s.

The men’s 1500 will be raced on Tuesday afternoon and into the evening at US Trials.

Below is a complete chart of each event with the total number of entries, age range, and average age of the athletes entered (based on whole-number ages)