Bobby Finke charged in the final length once again to win the men’s 1500m freestyle and complete an unprecedented sweep of the distance swimming events in Tokyo.
“My coaches have been working really hard with me this past year and all I knew is I had to try and race the others,” Finke said. “I was just trying to hold on and get my hand on the wall.”
Finke is the first American to win gold medal since Michael O’Brien in 1984. Team USA’s Connor Jaeger won silver in 2016 behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, who finished fourth on Saturday.
Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine and Florian Wellbrock of Germany took silver and bronze, respectively.