European Short Course Championships: Daniel Wiffen takes gold medal in 400m freestyle
- Published
Daniel Wiffen is expected to contend for a medal at this summer's Paris Olympic Games
Daniel Wiffen has become the first Irish swimmer to win a gold medal at a European Short Course Championships by winning the 400m freestyle in Romania.
The County Armagh competitor shaved almost three seconds off his own Irish record in winning the final in Otopeni in three minutes 35.47 seconds.
The 22-year-old beat nearest rival, Danas Rapsys of Lithuania (3:37.80), by more than two seconds.
Wiffen will also take part in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events this week.
The Irish swimmer faced a quality field in his 400m final on Tuesday, with the six fastest swimmers in the world this year competing.
Lucas Henveaux of Belgium claimed the final medal position in a time of 3:37.91.
"That race was amazing to be part of. I got to 200 and everyone was together and I thought I'm going to go now or never, so I just went and that worked out," explained Wiffen after his final.
Meanwhile Danielle Hill narrowly missed out on the final of the 50m freestroke, finishing ninth overall in the semi-finals.
Hill was just three hundredths of a second shy of qualification, although her time of 24.16 broke the Irish senior record, bettering the previous benchmark which she had set in Tuesday morning's semi-finals.
"It's a hard pill to swallow. Freestyle isn't what I've been training at all so to come here and to get those two swims is a massive positive going into the rest of the week," said Hill.
Ireland's second medal of the championships on Tuesday came courtesy of Ellen Walshe, who collected bronze in the 400m individual medley in 4:29.64.
Shane Ryan is into the final of the men's 50m breaststroke, with his time of 23.19 seconds sixth fastest in the semi-finals.
Daniel Wiffen's twin brother Nathan was 19th quickest in the 400m freestyle heats in a new personal best time.
Like his sibling, Nathan will also compete in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
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