Morristown To Tokyo: A Look Back At Nic Fink's Olympic Run

MORRISTOWN, NJ — It takes a lifetime of work to make it from Morristown to the Olympics. But when Nic Fink stepped up for the 200-meter breaststroke finals Wednesday night, it all came down to a 2-minute race.

Ultimately, Fink just missed out on a medal. The Morristown native finished fifth, as Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook captured the gold with an Olympic-record 2:06.38. Fink clocked in a second later at 2:07.93 — just 0.8 seconds short of Finland's Matti Mattsson's bronze-qualifying time.

While Fink finished the finals with a heartbreaking result, he gave Morristown an Olympic run the town may never forget. Here's a look back at Fink's journey to the Olympic finals.

Getting to Tokyo

Fink attended The Pingry School before enrolling at the University of Georgia, where he completed an accomplished collegiate career. He had several scoring appearances in the NCAA Championships with the Bulldogs.

But the Morristown native had a difficult path in Olympic qualifiers, failing to finish in the top two at the 2012 and 2016 trials. The 27-year-old also fell short with a third-place showing in the 100 breaststroke earlier this year.

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But Fink's fortunes changed last June, finishing first at Olympic qualifiers in the 200 breaststroke with 2:07.55. He trailed after 150 meters to Daniel Roy, who reached the mark 0.22 seconds ahead of Fink. But the Pingry product made up ground in the final stretch to clinch the event.

Success in Tokyo

Fink made his presence known right away in the Olympics, winning his race in the preliminary round. The 28-year-old inched his way to victory, beating out second-place Anton Chupkov, of Russia, by 0.06 seconds at 2:08.48.

In the semifinal, Fink finished second against even tougher competition. Fink entered the last stretch of the race 0.65 seconds behind Arno Kamminga, of the Netherlands. But he pushed the pace in the final leg to finish at 2:07.99, 0.01 seconds behind Kamminga.

On Wednesday night — Thursday morning in Tokyo — it all came down to Fink against the rest of the best 200 breaststroke swimmers in the world. Although he fell short, Team USA swimming's oldest rookie showed he belonged on the world stage.

“The breaststroke is an old man’s stroke,” Fink told olympics.com. “It’s one of those strokes that, early on, you can either do it or you can’t.”

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