Daniel Wiffen is steadily steering his path towards a double triumph in Olympic swimming. The action unfolded as Wiffen shattered records in his 1,500m heats, in the Paris La Défense Arena, shortly after midday this Saturday. Fresh off his gold-winning performance in the 800m freestyle event, just four days prior, Wiffen dominated the third heat out of four. He breezed past the others, claiming the leading spot just beyond the midpoint and finishing at an impressive 14:40.34. His main rival, Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy, who had previously won the bronze in the 800m competition dominated by Wiffen, came in just over two seconds later at 14:42.56.
When the finish line was only 200m away, Wiffen began to slow his pace, secure in the knowledge that he had put in sufficient effort across the 30 lengths. His gaze was already shifting towards Sunday’s final, which was scheduled for 5.37 pm, Irish time.
Among the final eight contenders, Wiffen had claimed the fastest qualifying time. Ahmed Jaouadi from Tunisia emerged as the victor in the fourth and final heat, narrowly getting the upper hand over the reigning champion Bobby Finke, from the USA. Finke, who had previously finished in the second spot behind Wiffen in the 800m competition, ended at 14:45.31, while Jaouadi completed the race just a tad earlier at 14:44.20.
During the second heat, 16-year-old Kuzey Tuncelli from Turkey stood out with a remarkable performance, cruising to victory at 14:45.27. Throughout much of the race, he had mirrored the world record pace. Regarded as an underdog in water sports, Ireland and its Olympic swimmers are gradually shredding the image of the beleaguered island nation.
Wiffen’s success journey has involved mustering the discipline for 5.45 am starts, strategic power napping, and vlogging. He seems on track for an Olympic swimming double, following his dominance in the heat rounds.
Wiffen has once again secured the coveted lane four for the final, leaving no question about his objective – beating the outstanding world record time of 14:31.02 set by Sun Yang in the 2012 London Olympics. This was prior to the ban Yang was served in 2020 for attempted manipulation of a doping test – an eight-year ban that was later appealed to four years and three months.
The swimmer hails from Armagh and bullishly holds a personal best time of 14:34.07, achieved when securing the world championship gold medal in Doha in February. At only 23 years old, he proudly became the first Irish swimmer to shatter a world record.
In the 800m setting, Wiffen’s triumphant time of 7:38.19 shattered the Olympic record of 7:41.28, which was set by Mykhailo Romanchuk during the final qualifying stages in Tokyo.
In December of last year, Wiffen astoundingly broke the solitary world record at the European Short Course Championships on the fringes of Bucharest. He celebrated his third gold medal of the meet in the 800m freestyle. His record-breaking time of 7:20.46 astonishingly slashed three seconds off the previous record held by Australian Grant Hackett. This record held more weight than usual, as it had been the longest standing one in swimming and belonged to a seven-time Olympic medalist, including three gold, since July 2008.
The men’s 4×100 medley heats involved the team of Conor Ferguson, Darragh Green, Max McCusker and Shane Ryan, who secured sixth place with a new national record time of 3.33.81. They narrowly missed the final with just over a second difference, with their overall rank being 11th. The USA team triumphed in the heat with 3:31.62.
On the women’s side in the 4x100m medley heats, the Irish team, including Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe and Grace Davison, secured the seventh place with a time of 4:00.12. Canada gained domination with a victory of 3:56.10. After Italy were disqualified, Ireland climbed to sixth place and were likewise placed 11th overall.