"Really felt like a bad food poisoning"- Bobby Finke gets candid on setback that hit team USA at World Championships

American swimmer Bobby Finke recently revealed what it was like when he, alongside other members of the U.S Team, fell sick while training in Thailand before the World Aquatics Championships had gotten underway. Finke still managed to compete at the tournament, performing impressively, however he had to stay back an extra day in their training camp alongside 10 other members of Team USA due to illness.

Bobby Finke is regarded as one of the best swimmers in the world. Finke gained recognition for his performances at the Tokyo Games, where he managed to win two gold medals in the 800m freestyle and the 1500m freestyle respectively, emerging as one of the brightest talents from the United States. He would go on to become a three-time Olympic champion at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he posted a world-record time in the 1500m freestyle. Finke has also earned five World Championship medals.

In an interview on the Unfiltered Waters podcast, Finke discussed his time in Thailand and how he and the team fell sick (32:02 onwards):

"There's always someone who gets sick on the trip. Every year I've been on. My first year it was me. And then now I got sick again. So, I was like, 'Okay, cool.' But you know, you always hear the first person who's got it, you wake up the next morning and then you hear that person's roommate say, 'Yeah, my roommate's sick,' and it was like, 'Oh man.' And then someone else came in and said their roommate's sick, and I'm like, 'Oof' and then it just kind of kept happening.

"It really kind of just felt like a bad food poisoning for the most part. And even when that was happening, there were some people who bounced back really quickly and it was like, 'Okay, if you get it, you'll be good to go within even a day or so.' Some people were back that quick. And I was unfortunately one of the athletes who had to stay back an extra day just because it was too rough to travel on a day where most of the team travelled."

Bobby Finke won a bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships and also placed fourth in the 800m freestyle final.

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Bobby Finke dropped out of competing in the 400m IM at World Championships

Bobby Finke at the USA Swimming National Championships - Source: Getty

Bobby Finke dropped out of competing in the 400m Individual Medley at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships due to scheduling conflicts. Finke, who holds the world-record time of 14:30.67s in the 1500m freestyle, chose not to compete in the event due to the 1500m freestyle final and 400 IM final coming too close afterward.