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

NANTERRE, France — American distance swimmer Bobby Finke successfully defended his Olympic title in Sunday’s men’s 1,500-meter freestyle, winning his second consecutive gold in the event and setting a new world at the Paris Olympics.
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.
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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. 
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Finke qualified sixth in Saturday’s preliminaries at Paris La Défense Arena.
Follow Michelle R. Martinelli on X (fomerly Twitter) at @MMartinelli4.
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