Earlier in the heats, Finke broke Michael McBroom's American record after coming into the meet with a personal best time of 7:48.22 set at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Swimming in lane 8, Italy's reigning World champion Gregorio Paltrinieri was out quickly and established a body-length lead at the 200 m mark.

While Germany's Florian Wellbrock and Ukraine's Mykhailo Romanchuk gained control at the halfway stage, Paltrinieri overtook the duo to claim silver in 7:42.11.

Australia's Jack McLoughlin, who claimed silver in the 400 m freestyle on night one, picked up the fifth spot with a 7:45.00 to hold off Ukraine's Serhiy Frolov (7:45.11) by 11 one-hundredths of a second.

Up to one swimmer per NOC meeting that time is eligible for selection, allocated by world ranking until the maximum quota for all swimming events is reached.