Latest news with #Wiffen
RTÉ News
25-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Daniel Wiffen breaks 18-year-old event record in final leg of tour meet
Daniel Wiffen broke the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour event record in the 1500m freestyle as four days of racing across two countries concluded tonight in Canet, France. Wiffen was the first Irish swimmer in the pool, competing in the 1500m freestyle final. Wiffen, who has already claimed gold in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle in Barcelona, opted out of last night's 400m freestyle final to focus on tonight's race. The strategy paid off, Wiffen delivered a standout performance in front of a packed arena in Canet. The 23-year-old led the race at the halfway mark with a split of 7:25.37, increasing his stroke rate to dominate the remainder of the race. The Olympic champion touched the wall in 14:54.71 to claim gold, with his closest competitor finishing in 15:01.66. The time also saw Wiffen shatter the Mare Nostrum record, held by legendary Australian swimmer Grant Hackett (15:00.58) since 2007. Ellie McCartney continued her excellent form from the Irish Open into the Mare Nostrum, capping off an impressive week with a bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke Final. The National Centre (Limerick) swimmer clocked 2:24.55 to finish third, just 0.3 seconds behind silver. Danielle Hill wrapped up a busy week at the Mare Nostrum with another final, this time in the 100m Backstroke. She posted a time of 1:01.50 to finish fifth. Hill leaves the meet with a collection of strong performances in preparation for Singapore. Jack Cassin brought the curtain down on Ireland's participation at the 2025 Mare Nostrum, racing in the 200m Butterfly final. The National Centre (Limerick) swimmer dropped nearly three seconds from his heat swim to finish sixth with a time of 1:58.71. Attention will now turn to June for the Sette Colli meet, which is set to feature several swimmers heading to Singapore including, Wiffen, Mona McSharry, and Ellen Walshe.
RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Wiffen & Hill tune up for Worlds with wins in Barcelona
Daniel Wiffen and Danielle Hill both impressed in the Barcelona leg of the 2025 Mare Nostrum Swim Tour series on Wednesday, notching victories as they stepped up their preparations for July's World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. The Mare Nostrum competitions serve as key preparation for several Irish swimmers, offering valuable international experience against some of the best swimmers in the world. Wiffen was first up on the blocks, competing in the 800m freestyle. The 23-year-old didn't take long to get the crowd on their feet, posting an impressive time of 7:45.17 to win gold and set a new Mare Nostrum Meet record, which had been held by Norway's Henrik Christiansen since 2019. Wiffen returns to the water on Thursday when he competes in the 400m freestyle. Shortly after Wiffen's win, Hill took to the pool for the 50m backstroke final. The Larne swimmer qualified as the fastest seed for the final with a time of 28.32 in the morning's heats. Two-time Olympian Hill blazed through the water to claim Ireland's second gold of the evening in 27.85, just shy of her Irish senior record (27.64). She'll also be in action on Thursday to compete in the 100m backstroke and 50m freestyle. Also competing on Wednesday evening were Singapore-bound Ellie McCartney - who swam in the 100m breaststroke (1:08.05) and 200 IM (2:14.94) - and Eoin Corby, racing in the 200m breaststroke (2:15.81). European Under-23 representative Maria Godden featured this evening in the 50m Backstroke (29.33) and the 200m Backstroke (2:16.23). Racing continues Thursday for the final day of the Barcelona leg before the team depart for Canet-en-Roussillon in France which is the final stop of the tour.
RTÉ News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Daniel Wiffen and Mona McSharry part of Ireland's contingent for World Aquatics Championships
Olympic medalists Daniel Wiffen and Mona McSharry will be part of a 12-strong Irish contingent that will head to the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore later this summer. Wiffen, who became an Olympic champion in the men's 800m freestyle at the Paris 2024 Olympics, as well as winning bronze in the 1500m, is aiming to defend the golds he won in both events at last year's World Championships in Doha. Along with Wiffen and Paris 2024 women's 100m breaststroke bronze medalist McSharry, fellow Olympians Ellen Walshe, Danielle Hill, Shane Ryan and Tom Fannon will also be competing during the eight days of competition. The 12-strong contingent is completed by John Shortt, Evan Bailey, Ellie McCartney, Cormac Rynn, Eoin Corby and Jack Cassin.
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Wiffen wins third gold but misses out on record
Daniel Wiffen's won his third gold medal of the week at the Irish Open Swimming Championships in the 1500m freestyle but missed out on a new world Olympic gold medallist predicted he would set a new world mark at the National Aquatic Centre this week. Wiffen's winning time of 14:42.71 was well outside of Bobby Finke's world record of 14:30.67 set while winning gold in Paris last summer, although was considerably closer to Florian Wellbrock's 14:38.27, the quickest time in the world this year set in Sweden on Sunday. Wiffen won by more than 32 seconds ahead of his twin brother Nathan, who finished in 15:15.57, with Limerick's Denis O'Brien coming third with a time of 15:22.18. Earlier in the championships Wiffen had set the quickest mark in the world this year in the 800m freestyle and claimed victory in the 400m times in each were enough to secure his place in all three events at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore in July where he is the defending champion in the 800m and 1500m described his week's work as "job done" and stated his aim is to "bring it into Singapore" where he is targeting three golds."Compared to the rest of the week, that's probably the best time out of them all in my book," he said of his final race. "The 1500m is always a hard event to do when you're coming back from such a long break because you need that training base to basically have that back end endurance.'Wiffen will immediately head back into training, in Belgium next week and then Flagstaff in Arizona, as he prepares for all three disciplines in Singapore, although there is one event he is looking forward to more than the others.'The 1500 is my most important race," he added.'I've won the 800 at the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans and set the world short course record. 'The 1500 has been lacking for me in terms of the big meets, I've got a bronze and I've got a world championship gold but I want to push it on.'I really want that world record, it's been my childhood dream to have that world record and I'm going to keep pushing until I get it." Irish titles for Hill, McCartney and Catterson On the final day of competition at the Irish Championships there were two more national titles for Larne's Danielle European champion won both the 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke, shorter distances which are now included in the Olympic programme for Los Angeles McCartney also rounded off her superb week with victory in the 200m clinched the consideration time for the worlds in the semi-finals, the Enniskillen swimmer recorded a time of 2:25.01, just outside of her new personal best of 2: Catterson clocked 2:00.99 to win the 200m freestyle final as she held on to beat fellow Paris Olympian Grace off taking Catterson's 200m freestyle national record on Tuesday, Ellen Walshe returned to the blocks for the final morning of heats. The Templeogue swimmer showed no sign of slowing up and clocked a time of 4:41.86 in the 400m individual medley. At the end of the championships Daniel Wiffen, Danielle Hill, Ellie McCartney, Mona McSharry, Ellen Walshe, Tom Fannon and Jack Shortt all recorded the times required for the World Swimming Championships this summer.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wiffen to chase world record at Irish Championships
Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen is targeting a new world record at the Irish Swimming Championships which get underway in Dublin on Saturday. Wiffen won the gold medal in Paris last summer in the 800m freestyle and will swim that event on the first day of competition. However, it is the 1500m freestyle next Wednesday in which he wants to rewrite the record books. The Magheralin swimmer won bronze at the Olympics in the longer distance as he was beaten by American Bobby Finke who became the only U.S. male swimmer to win an individual gold medal in Paris, finishing in a world-record time of 14:30.67. "Everybody should come down to Dublin because I will be trying to break this world record that I've wanted to break ever since I started swimming," explained Wiffen. "So I can't wait and it'll be getting done on the day. I am going to be fully rested for the Irish championships." Wiffen just has to prove his fitness next week to be selected for July's World Swimming Championships in Singapore. "Obviously, we're on the lead up to that. It's about how many world records I can break before we get to the World Champs. "And then when we get to the World Champs it's about defending my two world titles in the 1500 and 800. "We're also adding the 400 freestyle this year, so I'll be competing in three events instead of two. "So we're going for three gold medals in the summer." After taking a lengthy break following his Olympic success, Wiffen has ramped up his training since the turn of the year and by all accounts it is going well. "I've come back after the Olympics and it took me a couple of weeks trying to get back into it. "I took a two-month break so it was going to take me a while but I just recently competed in my last ever University Championships for Loughborough. "I ended up swimming times that I'd never touched in that part of the season before, so all these signs are leading towards this world record and I really look forward to having a crack at it in Dublin." The Irish Championships are being used as trials for a number of events this year, including the Worlds. As well as Wiffen, Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry, Olympic finalist Ellen Walshe and semi-finalists Tom Fannon and Danielle Hill, who will all compete in Dublin, have achieved initial qualification times for the World Championships in Singapore following their appearances in Paris last Summer. Shane Ryan also achieved the time at the European Championships in June. All swimmers will still need to compete in the same individual event(s) at the Irish Open to assure their competitive readiness and achieve a secondary consideration time. For the World Para Swimming Championships, also taking place in Singapore, four Paris Paralympians, Barry McClements, Dearbhaile Brady, Deaten Registe and silver and bronze medallist Roisin NiRiain have already achieved the qualification standard and are joined by Siomha Brady. 2024 Olympians Grace Davison and Victoria Catterson from Ards will also feature at the Championships, along with other strong contenders including Daniel's twin brother Nathan Wiffen, Ellie McCartney and Lottie Cullen.
