Wiffen takes bronze as Bobby Finke sets new world record in 1500m

Men’s 1500m freestyle 

An utterly dominant swim from the USA’s Bobby Finke saw him retain his Olympic 1500m freestyle title, while also setting a new world record for the distance on a night where Daniel Wiffen had to settle for bronze.

Finke came home in a time of 14:30.67, breaking the previous record set by China’s Sun Yang at London 2012.

The American dictated affairs right from the off, leaving Gregorio Paltrinieri and Wiffen in his slipstream.

And while Finke’s advantage was a steady two seconds for the first part of the race, he extended that to near three seconds over Wiffen after 650 metres. That advantage would grow to over four seconds with nine laps to go.

Paltrinieri was the one who tried to chase, with Wiffen losing ground in third.

Paltrinieri’s time was 14:33.55, while Wiffen clocked 14:39.63, well shy of his personal best of 14:34.07.

So in the end no second gold medal for the 23-year-old, this after storming to 800m freestyle glory on Tuesday. All in a year when the Co Armagh competitor tasted World Championship success on the double last February.

Ireland’s medal tally at these Paris Games now stands at seven.

Wiffen, speaking afterwards, said: “Right now, I’m happy but disappointed at the same time. I’m look across the week and I can’t be pleased more than being an Olympic champion.

“And yeah, to be honest, it’s quite emotional. I don’t know what to say. A gold and a bronze. I couldn’t be more happy. Today’s race didn’t go my way. But who cares? Who cares? I’m an Olympic champion.

“But the bronze medal, I know when I came into Paris I was going to be happy with any medal. But when you hit gold on the first time you race, you kind of don’t want less than that. But I’m happy. We never had a medal before this competition at the Olympics for men. And to come away with two, I’m very happy.”

He revealed he wasn’t sure at first how far Finke was clear, explaining: “I’m not going to lie, the way I was looking, Greg was kind of blocking Bobby so I couldn’t see it.

“And then when I saw him in front, I was like, we’re going to be in a very painful race right now.

“And I did try to kick deep to try to push it, but I just didn’t have enough today.

“Being an Olympic champion is like a dream come true. I did have my sights set on a world record, but today wasn’t the day. Well done to Bobby, he did class to get the world record. But we will be back better next time.”