Paris 2024 swimming: All results, as Team USA’s Bobby Finke sets new world record to win gold in men’s 1500m freestyle

In the final individual swimming race of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Sunday, 4 August, Bobby Finke of Team USA set a new world record in the 1500m freestyle with a time of 14:30.67 to win gold, surpassing the previous mark of 14:31.02.

Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver with a time of 14:34.55. Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen clinched bronze with a time of 14:39.63.

Swimming in lane seven, Finke, the defending gold medalist in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle, was in it to win it after earning silver in the 800m gold. The 1500m final field included all three medalists from that event.

Finke took a new approach in this event, usually one to come from behind, he took the lead from the start. He showed no sign of tiring, instead Finke increased his lead with every 50m. But the question on everyone’s mind as the final 100m bell rang was whether he would be able to keep his lead and get the world record time in the sprint finish? The answer was a definitive yes, as Finke increased his speed to chase down the world record and become a back-to-back Olympic gold medalist.

Prior to Finke’s win, Team USA had yet to win an individual men’s gold medal at Paris 2024, a fact not lost on Finke, who said: “I knew going into the race I was the last individual swimmer for the guys.

“I didn’t really know how the race was going to play out. I was feeling pretty good at the first 300, I saw I had a decent lead and I knew I really just wanted to try to hold it.

“I was maybe a body length (ahead). I was like, ‘I can’t let go of this now. I can’t be the guy who got ran down after I do all the running down’. That was a big factor in my mind. I just kept that back there and I was just trying to keep going.”

Finke kept going, he said, his plan was to “hopefully try to make the guys hurt a little bit trying to catch up to me - but they started catching up to me”. He added: “I was getting a little worried but I knew I just had to keep pushing. As long as I can keep a little bit of the distance, I knew I was in a good shape for the end of the race.”

Gregorio Paltrinieri’s test of nerve

Paltrinieri was the only other swimmer to push into world-record time, before dropping back in the final meters of the race.

Paltrinieri, who now has a silver to add to the bronze he earned in the 800m freestyle, said that he will never tire of competing: “It will be always there. If I quit today, tomorrow I will miss it. I have always longed to compete. I started without feeling nervous. I feel the same every time I compete, for the European Championships, the Worlds, the Olympic Games.”

And Ireland’s Wiffen added a bronze to his historic gold medal finish in the 800m - a first for Ireland. Wiffen was the top qualifier coming into the 1500m freestyle and he said of his bronze-medal finish: “Happy but disappointed at the same time. Happy because I’m an Olympic champion, I’m a bronze medalist, but disappointed with the time and the race, but what can we do?”

The Irishman tried to make a comeback once he realized Finke’s tactics, but he said: “When you’re behind in the 1500 it’s hard to get the momentum back. I started getting momentum. I could see I was catching and then when I finally caught up, I was finished, because it took so much mental energy to try to catch that gap back up. And then, by the end, I was just fighting for the bronze medal to try to keep my place because I did not want to finish fourth again. I hate that position.”

He added: “To get a bronze medal in the Olympics, I’m sure if I did that to start the week, people would be very happy. Becoming an Olympic champion on the third day and I’m finishing off [in bronze] on the ninth day, it’s a bit sad but overall very pleased.”

This is the final event for Finke, however both Paltrinieri and Wiffen will be competing in the men’s 10km marathon swimming to be held 8 August.

Swimming: Men’s 1500m freestyle podium

Gold: Bobby Finke, USA
Silver: Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy
Bronze: Daniel Wiffen, Ireland

See all the results on Olympics.com