Impossible to say what it might mean come the hour at World Championships in Singapore from July 27 but this day a brace of 4:07s in the 400m medley at U.S. Championships held aloft the hand of Olympic 1500 free champion Bobby Finke.

It's never easy on the pride of specialists to have an 'outsider' pop in to pinch gold but if any swimmers know how that feels from both directions, it's the medley crew who have upset many a specialist themselves down the years of practising the parts of their signature sum.

Finke, the World record holder over 30 lengths freestyle and a Gator coached by Anthony Nesty, 1988 Olympic 100m 'fly champion for Surinam, and team in Florida, is one of the fastest finishers in the ranks of the stamina-clad of swimming history. As such, he was always going to be a danger in the 400IM if he could finish breaststroke within the wash of those turning to freestyle aheads of him.

Day 3 in Indianapolis, which included a scorching 54.79 from Gretchen Walsh in the 100m butterfly and a 26.9 American record from Katharine Berkoff in the 50m back, swelled the ranks for qualifiers for World Championships in Singapore.

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When he turned into the last 100m within spitting distance (just over a second) of Olympic 400IM medallist from Paris 2024, Carson Foster, the race was on. When Finke, the pace-setter after backstroke after turning fourth from 'fly, wrote the result on the wall at the last turn when his feet registered a split just 0.31sec shy of Foster's lead. In 27.44, to Foster's 28.21 last length, Finke was home for the gold in 4:07.46, a personal best inside his 4:09.55 from two years ago.

Foster, coached by Bob Bowman in Texas, clocked 4:07.92 for silver and the second ticket to Singapore, was followed by a 4:09.65 bronze for another Bowman charge, Rex Maurer, another Longhorn, Baylor Nelson, fourth in 4:16.54.

As noted up top, impossible to known what a 4:07 in the 400IM in the same week as a 14:48 1500m indicated there's a taper ahead for Finke will mean come the big sling in Singapore. Doubtless, however, Bowman and his No 1 400Imer, French Olympic champion Léon Marchand, all, be keeping an eye on racing ahead of the 30-lap-man's danger zone by the time breaststroke has had its moment in the medley battle of the summer to come.

Finke was asked about his thought process going into the race. He said:

“I just wanted to have fun and race the guys around me. I am racing Carson (Foster), one of the best in the world, one of the best to ever do it. Racing him always gets the best out of me, glad to be able to race him and put a good effort forward.”

On his freestyle finish, Finke added: “Carson was holding on really well, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to catch up to him at first, but I was slowly and slowly chipping away.”

• RESULTS IN FULL AT OMEGA

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