IRELAND’S DANIEL WIFFEN broke the 800m freestyle Irish record as he began at the World Championships in Budapest in Hungary.
Wiffen clocked 7:46:32, knocking over four seconds off the previous record that he had set in April, when swimming in heat three of four and the performance saw him through to the final as the fifth fastest qualifier.
The 20-year-old finished in fourth place in the heat, behind Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Mykhyalo Romanchuk from Ukraine, Tokyo 2020 10k open water champion and 1500m bronze medallist Florian Wellbrock from Germany and was just .24 of a second behind third-placed Olympic, World and European medallist Gabriele Detti of Italy.
Wiffen, who swims at Loughborough University, had to endure a ten-minute wait to see if he had made the final, but only one swimmer, Tokyo 2020 800m freestyle silver medallist Gregorio Paltrineiri, was faster, qualifying him in fifth place overall. Wiffen finished ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion in the heats, USA swimmer Bobby Finke, who was sixth.
The 800m freestyle final will take place tomorrow, Tuesday 21 June at 5.02pm.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
