American Bobby Finke defends Olympic gold in swimming’s 1,500M, breaks world record

Finke won gold with a time of 14:30.67, besting the world record set by China’s Sun Yang in 2012 (14.31.02) by nearly a half a second. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver with a time of 14.34.55, and Ireland’s Daniel Wiffin, who won the 800 meters in Paris, got bronze in 14.39.63.

Finke’s victory salvaged what had been a historic shutout in the pool for American men in individual events, bringing home gold on the last day and in the last individual event of the swimming competition.

Finke, a 24-year-old two-time Olympian, won a silver medal in the men’s 800 freestyle at these Games behind Wiffin, and at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, he won gold in both men’s distance events.