NANTERRE, France — Bobby Finke set a world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle Sunday, giving the United States a huge boost on the final night of swimming.

Finke was under world-record pace the entire race and really turned it on coming to the finish. He touched in 14 minutes, 30.67 seconds to break the record of 14.31.02 set by China’s Sun Yang at the 2012 London Games.

Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver, while Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen claimed bronze.

Finke, who won the gold medal in the event in Tokyo, became the first male swimmer to go back-to-back in the grueling 30-lap event since Australia’s Grant Hackett in 2000-04 and the first American since Mike Burton in 1968-72.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.