DANIEL WIFFEN MADE more Irish swimming history on Tuesday as he won the country’s first-ever gold medal at the European Aquatics Championships (25m) in Romania.
Wiffen smashed his Irish 400m freestyle record as he clocked a blistering 3:35.47 to win in Otopeni, finishing more than two full seconds ahead of the rest of the field, led home by Danys Rapsys of Lithuania in 3:37.80.
“That race was amazing to be part of,” the Magheralin native said afterwards.
“I got to the 200 and everyone was close together and I thought I’m going to go now or never, so I just went, and it worked out.
“It just felt amazing, I don’t know what to say, I’m stuck for words.”
The 22-year-old added: “The 400m is not part of my usual programme so winning is a good sign of what I can do in my other races [800m and 1500m].”
Wiffen will be back in action on Wednesday when he goes in the heats of the 1500m freestyle.
Dublin’s Ellen Walshe also featured on the podium on the opening day as she won bronze in the 400m individual medley in 4:29.64.
Abbie Wood won gold (4:27.45) and Freya Colbert took silver (4:29.04) in a Great Britain 1-2 ahead of Walshe.
“It’s great,” the Templeogue swimmer said.
“I can be a little hurt that I was faster than that previously but where I’m at in my training, heading into Paris, a European medal is a European medal, so I’m delighted.”
Danielle Hill missed out on a place in the 50m freestyle final by just three-hundredths of a second, setting a new national record of 24.16 seconds in her semi-final.
Shane Ryan — bronze medallist at these championships in 2019 — was the sixth-fastest qualifier for Wednesday’s 50m backstroke final after swimming 23.19 seconds to finish third in his semi. Ryan returns to the water for the final at 4.05pm on Wednesday.
Updated 7 December: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Wiffen as from County Down; he is from Magheralin, County Armagh.
– Additional reporting © AFP 2023
