PARIS: American iron-man Bobby Finke smashed the men’s 1,500 metres freestyle world record as he retained the Olympic gold medal in a thrilling swim that put the United States on top of the medal table at the Paris pool with two events remaining. After 30 lung-busting laps, Finke touched the wall in 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds at La Defense Arena, eclipsing Sun Yang’s 12-year-old mark of 14:31.02 set at the London Games.
Gallant Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver, 3.88 seconds behind Finke, with Daniel Wiffen, the 800m gold medallist, taking the bronze for Ireland. Finke became the first male swimmer to go back-to-back in the gruelling event since Australia’s Grant Hackett in 2000-04 and the first American since Mike Burton in 1968-72.
It gave the U.S. their seventh gold medal of the meet, the team leapfrogging Australia to the top of the table on the last night of competition. Agencies
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