PARIS — American ironman Bobby Finke broke the men’s 1,500-meter freestyle world record as he retained the Olympic gold medal in the event in a thrilling swim at a Paris swimming pool on Sunday.
Finke became the only US male swimmer to win an individual gold medal in Paris.
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 world mark of 14:31.02 at the London Games.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver, 3.88 seconds behind Finke, with Daniel Wiffen, the 800m gold medalist, taking bronze for Ireland.
Finke became the first male swimmer to repeat the grueling event since Australian Grant Hackett in 2000-04 and the first American since Mike Burton in 1968-72.
Three years after winning the 800- and 1,500-meter gold at the Tokyo Games, Finke marked his place among the titans of distance swimming with an aggressive swim that led from start to finish.
He was longer than Paltrinieri and Wiffen by the 300 meter mark.
Paltrinieri made a charge near the 600-meter mark and pulled up to Finke’s waist, but there was no stopping the American.
“I really want to get on the podium again, and I hear the national anthem again like the first time in Tokyo,” Finke said.
Ireland’s first men’s Olympic swimming champion, Wiffen reckons a world record is needed to take gold and hopes he will be the man.
It was Finke, though, that produced something special to hold on to the world record and send the people of La Defense Arena into hysteria.
In addition, the United States’ 64-year unbeaten streak in the men’s 4×100-meter medley was ended by China.
Amid cheers in the converted rugby stadium, 100m freestyle world record holder Pan Zhanle brought China home with a blistering swim as he, Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun won in a time of 3 minutes 27, 46 seconds.
Caeleb Dressel and the Americans took silver, 0.55 seconds behind the Chinese, while Leon Marchand’s France took the bronze.
The US did not participate in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow due to a boycott, but they were never defeated in the men’s medley final in their inaugural event at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Pan will take enormous credit for beating him as he rocketed to the wall in 45.92 seconds. Qin, who swam the breaststroke leg, was also important with a time of 57.98 to beat France’s four-gold hero Marchand.
In the women’s competition, Sweden’s world record holder Sarah Sjostrom completed an incredible freestyle sprint double by adding women’s 50m gold to her fifth Olympic 100m title at the Paris Olympics.
Australia’s Meg Harris, the gold medalist in the 4x100m freestyle relay, took silver, and China’s Zhang Yufei took bronze for her fifth Olympic medal and ninth of her career.
“I never thought I would win two golds in the fifth Olympics. It’s unbelievable,” said Sjostrom, who will turn 31 later in August. “This is the pinnacle of my career.
“I’m definitely going to keep swimming for years, but I mean, how do I get to the top of this?” he asked.
The Swede broke Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s Olympic record in the semifinals, where she was the only swimmer under 24 seconds, with a time of 23.66.
Sjostrom could not match the time of the “splash and run” in La Defense Arena, touching the wall in 23.71 after a long thrash down the pool and then raising two fingers in triumph.
Harris finished 0.26 behind her, the only other woman in 24 seconds, and Zhang was 0.49 of Sjostrom’s pace.
Sjostrom, the silver medalist in the 50 meters in Tokyo three years ago — and after breaking his elbow before the Games — now has six individual medals from the last three Olympics — three golds, two silvers and a bronze.
Meanwhile, Regan Smith finally got a gold medal as the US broke the world record in the women’s 4×100 medley relay. Australia took the silver and China the bronze.
The US quartet of Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske touched down with a final time of 3 minutes 49.63 seconds.
The previous record of 3:50.40 was set by the United States at the world championships in Gwangju, South Korea, in July 2019.
Smith had won five silvers — three at this meet — and one bronze before finally securing the elusive gold.
–Reuters, Special to Field Level Media