World Number 1 Daniel Wiffen will
lead a 12-strong Ireland swimming team into this July’s World Aquatics
Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. Wiffen’s recent performances at the Stockholm
Open see him as the current world leader in both the 1500m and 800m Freestyle,
with his 1500m performance making him one of the four fastest men to ever
compete over the distance. The Ireland selections come as part of a
multi-Championships announcement for the summer, with 36 athletes named to five
separate National teams, with the swimming teams for the European Youth Olympic
Festival and the Commonwealth Youth Games to be confirmed in the days to come.
Joining Wiffen on the Fukuoka-bound
team will be Mona McSharry, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalist, Ellen Walshe, a
World short course Championships medallist and the exciting talent that is John
Shortt, at only 16 years of age, recently wowing the crowd at the Irish Open
Championships.
Wiffen said, “Going into the World
Championships, I’m definitely hoping to come out with a personal best and I
think I can say after my swims at the weekend, being world ranked number one in
the 1500m Freestyle, that I would be a World Championship medal hopeful. I
guess that as a medal has never been won by an Irish athlete at a World Long
Course Championships that I’d like to be the first to do that. I’m really
looking forward to the team that’s going to Fukuoka, it’s going to be a great
pre-camp and I can say that my Youtube videos (@WiffenTwins) are going to be
very cool, we’ll get everyone involved; a big team will definitely boost the
atmosphere and we’ll all be ready to race fast in Japan.’
The team for Fukuoka consists of 7
men and 5 women, with six of the team making a World Championships debut, two
of whom are making their first ever senior National Team appearance for their
nation. Ireland will also enter teams into three key relay events in Japan -
the Male and Female 400m Medley Relays and the Female 400m Freestyle relay,
with this Championships providing one of only two opportunities by which
nations can qualify relays for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.
In addition to Fukuoka beckoning, a
home European Championships in front of what will be a packed crowd in Dublin
will be all the more exciting now that 19 athletes have been named to the Irish
team for the LEN European Under 23 Championships, consisting of three days of
racing at the National Aquatic Centre in August. Several of those athletes
named are also nominated to Commonwealth Games Northern Ireland for the
Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad, and with both events taking place at the
same time, such athletes will have decisions to make as to which of the two
competitions they will feature in. With five of the World Championships team
travelling back from Japan to compete in Dublin, Irish swimming fans will have
a whole host of racing to look forward to right on their own doorstep.
A team of 13 is confirmed for the LEN
European Junior Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, and with 18-year-old females
added to the programme from 2023 onwards, some athletes will have an additional
opportunity to race at this event having felt that last year would have been
their last venture at this level. Eyes will be on rising Irish talent such as
Ellie McCartney, Grace Davison and Evan Bailey, with male and female relays
again part of the focus in the selector’s decision making.
Following on from an initial venture
back into Open Water racing in 2022, seven athletes will race at the LEN
European Junior Open Water Championships in Crete, Greece later this year, with
four such athletes also benefitting from international Open Water racing as
part of the LEN Open Water Cup in Piombino, Italy.
Jon Rudd, Swim Ireland’s Performance
Director believes that Irish swimming is in a very good place for a productive
summer this year. “We had a very successful and uplifting Trials at the Irish
Open Championships in Dublin this month and to be able to name such a long list
of athletes to our National Teams this summer is extremely pleasing and
encouraging. The World Championships is an important step in qualifying for and
preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and we have a number of names on
that roster who can make it through the rounds of racing and feature in the
finals where the medals are decided. That is really something to look forward
to. For all of our athletes, across all teams, the challenge is to be faster
again in whatever event or events they have been selected for in a few weeks’
time. When we get to July and August, it won’t be long until the second Olympic
qualification event is upon us, the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in
February – so every event is an end in itself as well as a means to another
end. Congratulations to the athletes selected and to the coaches and home
programmes that aided them to this point – and whether it’s Fukuoka, Dublin,
Belgrade, Maribor, Trinidad, Crete or Piombino, there will be plenty to keep
Irish swimming fans happy this summer”.
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