Bobby Finke asks for approval from Michael Phelps while trying swimming great's iconic warm-up

American swimmer Bobby Finke recently asked for approval from Michael Phelps while impersonating the latter's classic warm-up. Finke concluded his 2024 season after competing at the Paris Olympics.

The 25-year-old wrapped up his 2024 Summer Games campaign with two medals. He won his first medal on July 30 in the men's 800m freestyle, where he secured a second-place finish after clocking a time of 7:38.75. Following this, he delivered a historic performance in the men's 1500m freestyle, where he clocked a world record of 14:30.67 and continued the 120-year streak of Team USA winning a gold medal in any individual event.

Finke trounced Gregorio Paltrinieri and Daniel Wiffen, who posted a time of 14:34.55 and 14.39.63, respectively. He was the first male American swimmer to win an individual gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Weeks after this notable achievement, Bobby Finke tried his hands at something iconic and asked for the approval of Michael Phelps.

The 1500m Olympic champion took to his Instagram account on November 21 and shared a picture of doing the Phelps' iconic warm-up. Asking for the Baltimore Bullet's approval of whether he was doing it correctly, Finke added the caption:

"@m_phelps00, am I doing this right?"

Michael Phelps praised Bobby Finke for his world record win at the Paris Olympics

Michael Phelps lauded Bobby Finke for surpassing Sun Yang's world record from 2012 by waving 0.35s from the latter's time in the 1500m event on August 4, 2024, at the Paris Olympics. Impressed with his performance, Phelps called it one of the 'greatest swims' he had seen. He added that the 25-year-old was all prepared for this victory, as quoted by Today.com:

"Bobby Finke, last night, swimming, that was unbelievable," Phelps said. "I have chills right now talking about it. That was one of the greatest swims in the Olympics, in my opinion. Being able to break that world record in the matter that he did it. Just taking it out, challenging the other guys just to make a move, he was prepared."

Apart from Finke, Phelps was disappointed with Team USA's results at the 2024 Olympics and stated that the world is catching up.

"For me, as a whole, I was pretty disappointed to see US swimming results. For me, one of the things that I've always said over the last couple years is the rest of the world is catching up," Phelps said.

Agreeing with this take, Bobby Finke said that it was a wake-up call for them, in an interview with Nightcap on August 10, 2024.

"Yeah, for sure. It was a big wake-up call these past couple of years for men’s swimming, especially because of how deep and competitive it has become. It’s amazing for the sport," said Finke.

The 1500m world record holder made his Olympic debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he won two gold medals in the 1500m freestyle and 800m freestyle events.