Bobby Finke likes to have a laugh, it seems, and he certainly had the last laugh today as he flipped his Tokyo strategy on its head, fired from the front and never looked back on the way to a World record of 14:30.67.

The Sun has set on the standard set in 2012 after a last 50m of 25.68sec:

• 14:31.02 – Sun Yang (CHN) WR – Olympic Gold London 04/08/12

55.80; 1:54.31; 2:52.63; 3:51.50; 4:49.62; 5:48.15; 6:46.74; 7:45.45; 8:44.32; 9:43.10; 10.41.73; 11:40.64; 12:39.00; 13:37.53; 14:05.34; 14:31.02 (53.49/27.81/25.68)

The American chased the Sun standard to its horizon and got there first.

Here's how Finke did it:

55.47; 1:53.59; 2:51.69; 3:50.38; 4:49.10; 5:47.86; 6:46.51; 7:45.18; 8:43.37; 9:41.72; 10:40.01; 11:38.41; 12:36.69; 13:35.33; 14:30.67 (55.34/29.07/26.27)

Meaning, he had to be two seconds ahead of Sun's pace to have a hope in hell.

His 500m splits add up to a model of magnificent 1500 swimming for all who want to compete with him: 1st 500, 4:49.10; 2nd 500, 4:52.62; 3rd 500, 4:48.95. Perhaps every training set between now and LA2028 should be headed with those splits as a reminder of the equilibrium, consistency and force to be faced.

That watch has already begun:

Finke learned in 2022 that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em: a year after Tokyo glory, he faced Italian 2016 Olympic 1500m champion Gregorio Paltrinieri in Budapest and was shown how it was possible to beat him if the pace factored in Finke's signature fast finishes.

It was the blueprint for having a crack at Sun's standard in a way that would also deliver a touch of shock treatment to rivals who'd settled on the idea of it being in Finke's interest to start steady.

Today, the American went out inside the pace of the faded Sun and gave himself not only a shot at the record but the crown too: win-win ... the record was felled and, try as Paltrinieri did, there was not getting back at the American.

If victory three years ago, made Finke the first American winner of the 1500m since 1984, when Mike O’Brien and George DiCarlo took gold and silver at the boycotted L.A. Games between historic wins for Vladimir Salnikov in 1980 and 1988, today, he joined an elite group of men who successfully defended the crown.

The 2024 champion's fellow American Mike Burton, in 1968 and 1972 was first to do so (Britain's Henry Taylor won at the intercalated Games of 1906 as the warm-up to the Games proper in 1908). Salnikov's double was eight years apart, while Australians Kieren Perkins (1992-96) and Grant Hackett (2000-04) are the other two swimmers celebrated as double winners.

And, lest we forget, Sun set out to defend the crown in 2016 but finished 16th in 15:01.97 in heats. That was the year after he kicked a locker in when Chinese officials withdrew him from the 1500m at World titles in Kazan, Russia, on health grounds that "explained" why he had been taking trimetazidine (TMZ) - yes, that same drug - "for several years" for a heart condition before he tested positive for the substance in 2014.

Paltrinieri, who raced as a 17-year-old making his Olympic debut in that 2012 final alongside Sun, dug deep in an effort to get get back ion terms with the bolting American but could not get nearly close enough. Her took silver in 14:34.55, Ireland's Dan Wiffen the bronze, in 14:39.63, to add to his gold in the 800m, while the other side of a big 14:40.91 swim from Hungary's David Bethlehem, Turkish 16-year-old Kuzey Tuncelli lowered his own World junior record in 14:41.22.