Splash Down Showdown: Olympic Swimmers Challenge St. Pete’s Young Stars!

ST. PETERSBURG — This marks the beginning of Olympic aspirations. With a neighborhood pool hosting a local swimming club.

With middle schoolers splashing in the water and parents shouting from the stands. Accompanied by a crackly public address system, a few burnt-out lights on the aquatic scoreboard, and the unmistakable scent of possibilities lingering in the air.

You may think I’m eccentric, but that kid Finke in the middle lane possesses talent.

Similarly, the Ledecky young woman in the adjacent lane has promise.

Welcome to the St. Petersburg Aquatics (SPA) Trials Fundraiser, where legends revisited their story on Friday evening. Between them, Bobby Finke and Katie Ledecky own more Olympic gold than several adequately-sized nations. Yet, astonishingly, they opted for the North Shore Aquatic Complex as the venue for their initial competition since exiting the pool at the Paris Olympics last summer.

In certain respects, it was a coincidence. A professional swimming series event in Knoxville was canceled, causing Olympic-class swimmers who had depleted their college eligibility to miss a crucial opportunity to get readjusted to competition. Conversely, it made total sense. Finke, a Countryside High alum, began his swimming journey at St. Pete Aquatics at the age of 7 and regularly returns to North Shore to train with coach Fred Lewis.

Ledecky, the most acclaimed female swimmer in history, has been training alongside Finke at the University of Florida for the last few years, therefore they traveled from Gainesville to reacquaint themselves with starting blocks, horns, and live timers ahead of the 2025 world championships this summer.

Although, they were competing against youngsters who had just come straight from middle school.

“It’s a small competition designed for the (SPA’s) senior swimmers, and there are time standards for each race,” Lewis noted. “Except for the 50 (meter freestyle). This enables us to include all the little swimmers in the 50s. Thus, all these younger competitors can depart here boasting that they swam in the same event as Katie Ledecky and Bobby Finke.”

The contrast was more delightful than shocking. Finke, who holds three Olympic golds and is the world record holder for the 1,500 meters, and Ledecky, with her nine Olympic gold medals, mingled on the pool deck with the teens and pre-teens prior to the 1,500 race, and then remained in the pool, respectfully applauding for an additional five minutes as each of their “opponents” completed the race.

They then joined the youngsters in the warmdown pool where they swam leisurely to relax their muscles and engaged in conversations with the children about pets, television shows, and whatever else crossed their minds.

“I only transitioned to Florida a few years ago, but I already feel like part of the Florida swimming community,” Ledecky expressed. “Growing up (in Maryland), I experienced these moments being around Olympians when I was their age. So I understand how impactful it can be and how much enthusiasm it can add to their season. It’s enjoyable to be in this atmosphere. It surely brings a smile to your face.

“Being amongst all this joy, all these delighted young athletes who are enthusiastic about the sport and discussing improving their times and swimming the mile for the first time? All of those experiences remind me of when I was their age, especially now that I feel so ancient.”

Ledecky, 27, stated she is already preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, which will be her fifth Games. Finke, 25, wasn’t quite secure about remaining until ’28 but is gearing up for the world championships in Singapore this summer.

While Finke and Ledecky train together with the UF team and other Olympians, he remarked that practice cannot emulate the sensation of waiting for the horn to leap into the pool at the outset of a competition.

Finke completed Friday’s event in 14:58.68, which is roughly 28 seconds away from the world record he established in Paris, but not a bad time given his recent training load. Ledecky was already three seconds behind him after the initial 100 meters and concluded at 15:42.73.

So, was there any banter involved?

“I can’t engage in trash talk with Katie. I mean, what would I even say?” Finke chuckled. “I did jokingly say before the race, ‘You’re going down,’ but that was about it. I mean, how can you trash-talk someone with all her achievements?”

Ledecky mentioned that she has competed against top male swimmers a few times previously, but she wasn’t going to be pulled into a competitive race with Finke this early in the season.

“I consciously told myself that I was going to ignore what Bobby was doing,” she explained. “I didn’t want to do anything foolish and swim out too quickly, attempting to keep up with him, or anything along those lines. I was simply hoping he was having a fantastic swim because I was aware of how far behind I was and could somewhat estimate what time I was going to achieve based on where he was at.”

The 1,500 was the opening event of the meet, allowing Finke and Ledecky to complete their work, jump into the warmdown pool, and then head out for the evening. Or at least, that was the intention.

The multitude of parents and children awaiting autographs near the exit had alternative plans.

John Romano can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow @romano_tbtimes.