Record-breaking double gold winner Daniel Wiffen has world record time in sight
The 22-year-old delivered delight in Doha with a dominant men’s 1500m freestyle final display to build on the milestone moment last week when his 800m triumph marked a landmark first Team Ireland gold in the water.
Hitting top spot in the 1500m in 14:34.07 left Wiffen clear of Germany’s Florian Wellbrock by over 10 seconds on the way to a fresh Personal Best time and Irish senior record across the global celebration’s closing day.
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Hide AdHaving also reached the 400m final in Qatar, Wiffen’s achievements secured the title of ‘Male Swimmer of the Meet’ – but he signed off the dream week with a clear message around forward momentum.
Now the fifth-fastest swimmer to ever tackle the 1500m discipline, Wiffen was open about breaking the 2012 world record time set by China’s Sun Yang of 14:31.02.
"Yeah 100 per cent, it’s definitely one of my goals to try and beat that at some point,” Wiffen told Swim Ireland. “I mean I’m only 22, I have at least another eight years, another couple of Olympics in me. I’m sure it will go at some stage and I hope to be the person to do it.”
Long-term ambitions aside, Olympic Games-bound Wiffen took time out to celebrate his record-breaking success.
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Hide Ad“I mean that race was definitely better for me, I pb’d (personal best), I’m so happy, because after hitting that time in April (2023), it could have been a fluke,” he said. “I went 14:35 at the under 23s (2023)...obviously coming here, the progression from the 400m to the 800m to the 1500m today, I’m just so happy to come away with a pb and two world titles.
“I was talking about it before with my coach Andi (Manley) and we had a little bet to see if I could pb or not, but, 100 per cent, go out a bit faster than everybody else and just be in my own lane, swim my own race and get out ahead and really focus on what I was going to do.”
Larne’s Conor Ferguson also finished the worlds in a final, helping Team Ireland to seventh over the men’s 4x100m medley relay towards Olympic Games goals. It marked a first long-course world relay final appearance by Team Ireland.