Monday, July 31, 2023

Swim Ireland Daniel Wiffen Fourth in World Class 1500m Final


 

Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen recorded a second fourth place finish this week in the 1500m Freestyle Final on the last day of racing at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan this afternoon. It was the 22-year-old’s second time just outside the medals this week, after a fourth place in the 800m Freestyle Final on Wednesday also.

The Magheralin man, who set a European Record in the 800m event on Wednesday, stopped the clock on 14:43.01 for his second fastest time ever.

On one side of Wiffen, Australia’s Sam Short took the race out under world record pace, quickly positioning himself out ahead of the pack. At 1,000 metres, Short was caught by the two swimmers on Wiffen’s other side, USA’s Bobby Finke and Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui. The pair lead out for the rest of the race quickening their pace and leaving Wiffen with too much ground to make up.

The podium for the 1500m ended with the same three from the 800m, Hafnaoui a double World Champion in 14:31.54 and a new Championship Record; Finke taking home silver in 14:31.59 and Short the bronze in 14:37.28. Hafnaoui and Finke now the second and third fastest men ever in the event, Wiffen the seventh fastest.

Wiffen said ‘I’m happy with my World Champs so far, a bit of disappointment there going in with the fastest pb (personal best) and then coming fourth, but I mean that’s just sport. I guess I just have to train harder and come back faster’.

Looking ahead Wiffen said ‘I’m just going to go back training; I’ve got a vengeance now because I want to win that race and I didn’t. I’m just going to keep training; I’ve got the European U23s in Dublin so I’m going to focus on that and post some fast times there and then next season just go for that gold in Paris.’

Wiffen and the Ireland swimmers will arrive home to Dublin Airport at 1:40pm on Tuesday 1st August.

Jon Rudd, National Performance Director and Team Leader for the Championships commented at it’s conclusion ‘As the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka draws to a close for Ireland’s swimmers and divers, we can reflect on a highly successful and ground-breaking World Championships which have provided us with our most significant results ever at this level, making the 12 months ahead into the Paris Olympic Games even more exciting. There are things we still have to improve on as a team, but there are many highlights for us to look back on, particularly in Daniel achieving a European Record, our first ever in a long course pool. We come away with three Final positions, with our first female swimming final in nearly 30 years and only the second time we have ever featured in male swimming finals at this Championships. Additionally, we featured in eight Semi-Finals (or Top-16 equivalent) in swimming and four Semi-Finals (Top-18 equivalent) in diving – a depth that is exciting for us, competing in 7 of the

8 swimming Finals sessions’.

Rudd went on to say on “The Team set six Irish Senior Swimming Records in a highly demanding arena, where 193 of the world’s swimming nations were present. Not only that, but three of our relays currently lie in the World Top-16 positions, giving us provisional Olympic berths at this point in time in all of them and we competed in 26 of the swimming events here, with 20 of these producing performances that saw us rise in the pre-meet rankings. So, you can see why we are proud of these athletes, the staff that have supported them whilst here - and their home coaching programmes who have delivered some excellent work prior to us travelling. We look forward to the LEN European Under 23 Championships in Dublin in just under two weeks’ time – and then Paris will be upon us sooner than we know it! And finally, a massive thank you to all of you support us and believe in our National Teams – it does make a huge difference to all of us!

While many of the swimmers finished their season in Japan, Daniel Wiffen, John Shortt, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe and Victoria Catterson will continue preparations into the inaugural LEN European Under 23 Swimming Championships taking place on the Sport Ireland Campus, Dublin from Friday 11th – Sunday 13th August.

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Sunday 29th July Results

Women 400m Individual Medley Ellen Walshe 4:43.24 (16th)

Men 4x100m Medley Relay Ireland 3:35.03 (13th)

Women 4x100m Medley Relay Ireland 4:01.25 (13th)

Men 1500m Freestyle Final  Daniel Wiffen 14:43.50 (2nd) F 14:43.01

The World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure individual Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar in February 2024, and the third being the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024.

For relays, the top three teams in Olympic relay events in Fukuoka will confirm places for Paris, with the remaining thirteen teams coming from the top times in Fukuoka and the Doha World Aquatics Championships.

Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships will take place from Sunday 23rd to Sunday 30th July.

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