At the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Italy's swimming competition ends on a high note: Gregorio Paltrinieri is Olympic champion in the 1500m. The 21-year- old from Carpi was the clear favourite and 'Greg', World Champion in the event in Kazan in 2015, lived up to expectations by dominating rivals such as the American Jaeger - runner up at the worlds, second once again (14:39.48) - and the Australian Horton (only 5th) and providing the Italian Team with its first swimming gold of Rio 2016, the sixth gold of the 18 medals won by Italian athletes in Brazil.
But tonight the real challenger was China's Sun Yang, or rather, his absence, as he did not qualify for the final, the swimmer from Carpi was actually inside his world record for most of the race but eventually finished in 14:34.57. It is of little importance, Gabriele Detti's great bronze in 14:40.86 just added to Italy's celebrations. Tonight the 1500m belongs to Italy.