The long wait continues, but now surely only for a matter of days. In one of the fastest 800m freestyle finals in swimming history, Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen touched home in fourth, just half a second away from the bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
No Irish swimmer has ever won a medal at these long-course championships, Wiffen’s brilliant effort coming just a day after Mona McSharry finished fifth in the 100m breaststroke, relegated from second inside the final 10m, just 0.13 of a second shy of bronze.
Once again Wiffen swam into fresh record territory, his time of 7:39.19 smashing his own Irish record by nearly five seconds, breaking the European 800m freestyle record to boot. Next comes his main event, the 1,500m freestyle heats starting on Saturday, his medal potential there now stronger than ever.
In a thrilling race over the 16 lengths, Wiffen was sitting in fourth for long stages, briefly dropping back to fifth, before hunting down the leaders again in the last 50m.
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Ahmed Hafnaoui from Tunisia, the 20-year-old Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle, took gold in 7:37.00, ahead of the Sam Short, the teenager from Australia, who won silver in 7:37.76 (having already won gold in the 400m freestyle). Bobby Finke from the USA, the defending and Olympic champion, finished third in 7:38.67.
Then came Wiffen in 7:39.19, just .52 of a second off bronze, also leaving in his wake two medal winners from the Tokyo Olympics, Gregorio Paltrinieri from Italy (silver) and Mykhailo Romanchuk from Ukraine (bronze).
Just turned 22, Wiffen was already talking up his hopes for the 1,500m, that final set for lunchtime on Sunday, with the Armagh swimmer clearly improving with every race.
“It was a good race, I’m really happy with the personal best and really looking forward to the 1,500m freestyle later in the week,” he said, his time taking .08 of a second off Paltrinieri’s European record of 7:39.27 set at the 2019 World Championships.
“But that race was great to be part of. Missing the podium, you know, I came into this, and I just wanted to be better than last year. I just love to race and that was definitely one of the best races I’ve ever had, and I loved every minute of it. I’m looking forward to what’s next.
“My plan was to try stick with them for as long as possible, I was happy the way I did it to be honest, I was just on the hip the whole time, my third 200m was probably a bit off and my last 200m was great. So maybe next time I tweak the third 200m but I can’t really complain about my plan.”
Indeed it marked another major leap forward for Whiffen who was introduced to the Fukuoka crowd as the “new big name in distance swimming”.
He goes into that 1,500m event ranked third fastest on times to date.
“I said on poolside there that if I can take five seconds off my 1,500m that I’m under the world record, so let’s hope that happens.”
After completing his second year of a three-year science degree at Loughborough University at the start of the summer, his preparations for the World Championships were ramped up with a period of altitude training in Sierra Nevada, Spain.
Before that, his performances at the Stockholm Open in April shot him to the top of the world rankings in both the 1,500m and 800m freestyle at the time. His 1,500m time of 14:34.91 was just shy of the world record of 14.31.01, and at the time the fourth fastest in history.
Earlier, in the women’s 50m backstroke semi-final, Danielle Hill clocked 28.10 for 13th place overall, competing at her first World Championships.
“I’m a little bit deflated, I expected a little bit more of myself,” said Hill. “But I think I’ve got to be positive with this, 48 hours ago I was in a much worse position. I’ve got two more swims individually and I’ve got a relay and that backstroke has given me a bit of a confidence boost heading into Sunday (4x100m medley relay).
On Thursday, McSharry returns in the 200m breaststroke, while Victoria Catterson returns for the 100m freestyle. Darragh Greene also goes in the 200m breaststroke, with 16-year-old John Shortt making his senior international debut in the 200m backstroke.
