IRELAND’S Daniel Wiffen once again narrowly missed out on a medal at the World Swmming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan yesterday.
The Magheralin man finished fourth in the 1500m freestyle final, the same position he filled in the 800m freestyle final earlier in the week.
He went into yesterday’s final strongly fancied, having been second fastest qualifier in Saturday’s semi-final, just 0.44s behind Bobby Finke of the USA.
However, it was Finke who fought out a terrific finish for gold with Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui, the latter just touching first in 14:31.54, just 0.05s ahead of the American.
Australia’s Sam Short took bronze in 14:37.28, while 22-year-old Wiffen was next home in 14:43.01, his second fastest time ever.
Wiffen said: ‘‘I’m happy with my World Champs so far, a bit of disappointment there going in with the fastest pb (personal best) and then coming fourth, but I mean that’s just sport. I guess I just have to train harder and come back faster.’’
Looking ahead Wiffen said ‘‘I’m just going to go back training; I’ve got a vengeance now because I want to win that race and I didn’t. I’m just going to keep training; I’ve got the European U23s in Dublin so I’m going to focus on that and post some fast times there and then next season just go for that gold in Paris.’’
Earlier on Sunday, Ireland’s women’s and men’s 4x100m medley relays both finished in 13th position in their heats, provisionally placing them within the 16 relay spots available for Paris 2024.
Fukuoka is the first opportunity for relays to qualify for the Games, with a second and final opportunity at the Doha 2024 World Championships where relays can be moved up or down the rankings.
The women’s team of Danielle Hill (backstroke), Mona McSharry (breaststroke), Ellen Walshe (butterfly) and Victoria Catterson (freestyle) set a new Irish record when they combined for a time of 4:01.25. The quartet had held the previous standard of 4:02.93 from the 2021 European Championships.
The men’s team of Conor Ferguson (backstroke), Darragh Greene (breaststroke), Max McCusker (butterfly) and Shane Ryan (freestyle) came home in 3:35.03 to win their heat, just 0.41 outside of the Irish record of 3:34.62 set in 2021.
