Sun Yang bags 1500m freestyle gold

China's Sun Yang has smashed his own world record in the men's 1500m freestyle to win a gold medal in the event at London 2012.

The 20-year-old led the endurance race from start to finish and remained more than two seconds ahead of world record pace throughout, finishing in 14:31.02.

There was a fierce battle for the silver medal with Ryan Cochrane, Oussama Mellouli and Taehwan Park all jostling for second place.

Canada's Cochrane dug deep during the final lengths to claim the runner-up spot and the silver medal with a finish time of 14:39.63.

Mellouli of Tunisia took home bronze, coming in ten seconds ahead of South Korean Park.

Team GB's Dan Fogg struggled to keep up with the pace-setters and finished in eighth with a time of 15:00.76.