NANTERRE, FRANCE – AUGUST 04: Bobby Finke of Team United States celebrates after winning gold in a world record time in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle Final on day nine of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on August 04, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Bobby Finke swam his way into the history books.
The 24-year-old Floridian broke a world record in the men's 1,500m freestyle in a time of 14:30.67 on Sunday to win a second-consecutive gold medal. Finke, who won gold in the event at Tokyo in 14:39.65, topped the previous mark of 14:31.02 set in 2012 by China's Sun Yang.
Finke led throughout in Sunday's race at the 2024 Olympics, finishing 3.88 seconds ahead of Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri, who took silver in 14:34.55. Ireland's Daniel Wiffen took bronze in 14:39.63.
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.
Finke’s gold was the seventh for the U.S., pulling them into a tie with Australia for the top spot in that column.
Finke earlier this week took silver in the 800m freestyle, an event he also won at the Tokyo Olympics.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story
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