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ROME, Italy, August 2. OLYMPIC gold medalist Ous Mellouli of Tunisia claimed the men's 1500 free world title at the FINA World Championships.
Mellouli put together a swift swim of 14:37.28 to break 14:38 for the first time. Mellouli, who was already the second-fastest ever with a 14:38.01, posted the second-best time ever behind Grant Hackett's world record of 14:34.56 set in 2001.
"I was cautious of the Chinese kid," Mellouli said. "He had a great 800, which must have been an out of body experience. I started to feel loose in the race, and tried to test the field by pushing the pace. That hurt like hell. It's been a long week with two big races and two silvers."
Canada's Ryan Cochrane took home silver with a 14:41.38, off his personal best time of 14:40.84 set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
China's Sun Yang rounded out the podium with a bronze-winning time of 14:46.84, holding off crowd favorite Federico Colbertaldo of Italy. Colbertaldo touched in 14:48.28 for fourth overall.
China's Zhang Lin (14:54.23), Great Britain's David Davies (14:57.03), Spain's Marco Rivera (15:01.92) and Italy's Samuel Pizzetti (15:19.38) also vied for the world title.