Nic Fink Wins Silver Medal in 100-Meter Breaststroke at Paris Olympics

Nic Fink, a swimmer from Mendham, has made waves at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, bringing home a silver medal in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke. This victory came just a day after fellow local swimmer Jack Alexy helped the U.S. clinch gold in a relay event.

In a nail-biting race, Fink finished equal to two-time defending champion Adam Peaty from Great Britain with a time of 59.05 seconds. They shared the podium with gold medalist Nicolo Martinenghi from Italy, who won with a slight edge.

Fink’s achievement at 31 makes him the oldest first-time USA Swimming Olympic medalist since 1904. He expressed his joy saying, “Age is just a number in some sense, but it means more because I kept going for the love of the sport.”

Having faced setbacks in his Olympic journey, including not qualifying in 2012 and 2016, he finally made it to the Tokyo Games in 2020, where he finished fifth in the 200-meter breaststroke. After years of dedication, Fink finally has his Olympic hardware.

Born and raised in Morris County, Fink attended Pingry School in Basking Ridge, where he set state swimming records. He later went on to excel at the University of Georgia, becoming a standout swimmer and a five-time world champion in breaststroke.

Now training at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Fink balances his swimming career with his engineering job at Quanta Utility Engineering Services, working remotely. Despite the challenges, he’s making it work, and he even brought his work laptop to training camp.

Add to this the excitement of expecting his first child with his wife, former Olympian Melanie Margalis Fink, in mid-September. With the Olympic race over, he joked that his wife was probably more anxious watching from home than he was competing.