
Do you swim more like Bobby Finke or Pan Zhanle?
Compare these two world record holders for insights into your swimming
Bobby Finke is the 1500m world record holder and Olympic gold medallist. We looked at his pacing strategy and what we might learn from it a few weeks ago.
He’s also surprisingly slow.
In fact, his best sprint times, as listed by World Aquatics, are so slow that I wonder if they are correct.
Apparently, Finke’s 100m freestyle personal best is only 54.33.
Now, that’s much faster than I can swim, but plenty of club swimmers can do that, and the women’s world record (Sarah Sjöström) is 51.71. Meanwhile, Pan Zhanle’s world record for the 100m sprint is 46.40 – a staggering 7.93 seconds faster.
But here’s what’s interesting. Finke’s 1500m time of 14:30.67 equates to an average pace of 58.04. In other words, he can hold a pace that’s only 3.71 seconds per 100m slower than his best time.
In contrast, Pan’s 1500m best time is 15:33.48. That’s an average pace of 1:02.23 per 100m, or 15.83s slower than his 100m world record. It’s also slower than Katie Ledecky’s women’s world record of 15:20.48 for the distance.
While it’s unlikely that anyone reading this will be troubling Finke’s or Pan’s world records or their times over any distance, we can still look at our swimming through this lens. Is your long-distance pace similar to your sprint pace, like Finke, or wildly different, like Pan?
Understanding this can help you decide how you train, what races to choose and what race tactics to use. It also shows that you don’t have to be fast over 100m to be fast at long distances. There are many ways to be an awesome swimmer.
How to use this for your swimming
If there is a wide difference between your 100m and 1500m speeds, and if you want to do long distance swims, you will benefit from working on your endurance. In your training, focus on long swims at a comfortable pace. In the pool, you could do blocks of 400m or 800m. Initially, try to maintain a consistent pace. As you get more experienced, try to get faster throughout the swim session.
If it’s the other way around and you want to do the 100m freestyle in a masters event, you might need to practise your sprints. In training sessions, make a point of regularly including short efforts at maximum speed.
Alternatively, you may want to double down on your natural strengths!
Also, use the data to inform your tactics. If you’re more inclined to sprinting, it doesn’t mean you can’t do long distance swims but try to play to your strengths. Swim behind other swimmers to conserve energy, then unleash your sprint power close to the end. If you’re more of a Finke, do your best to grind down the sprinters with your relentless long-distance pace. You can feel more confident in striking out on your own. You may also find you enjoy long-distance solo swims.
To explore this further, plot your race speeds on the chart. I’ve added mine as an example. I’m obviously slower than Pan and Finke at all distances but the slope is closer to that of the sprinter. This may explain why my favourite pool races are the 100m and 200m freestyle. In open water races, I prefer to swim in the pack and take advantage of the drafting benefits. Then, if I can, I try to overtake just before the end with a sprint finish.
If you don’t race or don’t have recent race times, you can time yourself for these distances. Perhaps do the 1500m and 50m on one day, 800m and 100m on another, and finish off with 400m and 200m. It’s the slope of the line you’re interested in, not the absolute speed.

Even if you think you know where your strengths lie, it’s worth plotting the data and comparing with your peers (there is lots of data on swimmingresults.org you can explore). Mine were not exactly what I expected. It may change the way you think about and approach your swimming.
When would Finke overtake Pan
World Aquatics lists both Finke’s and Pan’s best times across the full range of freestyle events in the pool (50m up to 100m). Pan wins everything up to 400m (although it’s close at that distance). After that, Finke takes over.

