Olympics-Swimming-Finke breaks world record to win men's 1,500m freestyle gold

Paris 2024 Olympics - Swimming - Men's 1500m Freestyle Final - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - August 04, 2024. Bobby Finke of United States celebrates after winning and establishing a World record. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

PARIS (Reuters) -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.