NANTERRE, France — Bobby Finke set a world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle Sunday, giving the United States a huge boost on the final night of swimming.
Finke was under world-record pace the entire race and really turned it on coming to the finish. He touched in 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds to break the record of 14.31.02 set by China’s Sun Yang at the 2012 London Games.
The silver went to Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri in 14.34.55, while race favorite Daniel Wiffen of Ireland couldn’t follow up his triumph in the 800 freestyle. He was never a factor and settled for the bronze in 14:39.63, barely holding off Hungary’s David Betlehem for the final spot on the podium.
Finke, who won the gold medal in the event in Tokyo, became the first male swimmer to go back-to-back in the grueling 30-lap event since Australia’s Grant Hackett in 2000-2004 and the first American since Mike Burton in 1968-1972.
Finke set the third swimming world record of these Olympics and provided a much-needed jolt for the mighty American team, which leads the overall medal count but had endured a series of disappointing results from some of its biggest swimmers.
His gold was the seventh for the U.S., pulling it into a temporary tie with Australia for the top spot. The Americans later upped that to a decisive eight with a win in the women’s 4×100 relay.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.