Latest news with #Wiffen
The Irish Sun
19 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen's World Championship title retention goes wrong after suffering with illness
DANIEL Wiffen failed to defend his 800m freestyle world title in the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. 2 Wiffen's World Championships haven't gone to plan so far 2 The former Loughborough University swimmer was struggling with illness The Magheralin native was on world record pace 100m into the race as he led the pack for the first 300m. He was then quickly caught by Ahmed Jaouadi who went onto win the race and set a third best-ever time in this disciple of 7:36.88. In last year's 800m freestyle, Wiffen made history by becoming the He won gold in this event last year and did so with a time of 7:40.94, a time which would have missed out on a podium place in this year's high-speed race. Read more on Irish Sport The 24-year-old was recovering from appendicitis in the lead up to the final and it took it's toll on the Irish swimmer, though he is not disheartened by today's result. When speaking to "Obviously, not my best showing, from last year winning the Olympics to coming eighth in the final. But honestly, I'm happy to be in the final, still progressing. "Still getting those nerves up. That's what sport's about, trying to get myself comfortable and I was definitely comfortable in that race. Most read in Other Sports "I'm pretty sure I was leading at one point, and then I got to the 400 and then my stomach was in pieces. "So, not my best showing but I'm happy to be in the final, happy to represent Ireland again in the final." Sharlene Mawdsley takes part in hilarious road race as part of Tipperary's All-Ireland celebration In But with the final heat results confirmed, Wiffen progressed in eighth. And he had admitted: 'I feel really weak at the moment. I just need to figure out what it is and change it for the final.'
Irish Independent
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Daniel Wiffen cites stomach issue after eighth place in world 800m freestyle final as Ellen Walshe makes 200m butterfly decider
Wiffen, who led the field through the opening 350 metres, faded in the latter half to come home in 7:58.56, nearly 14 seconds off his personal best. The 24-year-old later revealed he had been struggling with stomach issues during the race. "Obviously not my best showing, from last year winning the Olympics to coming eighth in the final', Wiffen said after the race. "But honestly, I'm happy to be in the final, still progressing, still getting those nerves up. You know, that's what sport's about, trying to get myself uncomfortable, and I was definitely uncomfortable in that race. "I'm pretty sure I was leading at one point and then I got to 400m and then my stomach was in pieces but, you know, I'm happy to be in the final, I'm happy to represent Ireland again in a final.'' There was much better news for Wiffen's fellow Olympian Ellen Walshe, who delivered one of the standout Irish performances of the night by breaking her own Irish record in the 200m butterfly to secure a place in Thursday's final. The 24-year-old had entered the semi-finals as the seventh seed with a time of 2:09.15 but dropped a stunning 0.73 seconds from her personal best to clock 2:07.69 and finish third in her semi. She now heads into the final ranked fourth overall. "I'm delighted,' said Walshe afterwards. "Like it was an event I really didn't want to take back up, and I think just to see how far I can get it, I have to be happy. At junior level I really struggled to kind of move it on but now I can see a lot of progress and the back end's definitely there.' Looking ahead to Thursday's final (12:02pm Irish time), Walshe added: "I'm looking forward to tomorrow to see if I can be a little bit better through the front speed. I'm in against some really big names, so it's going to be exciting.' Australia's Elizabeth Dekkers will be the top seed in the final after posting a 2:06.13 in the semis. Elsewhere, Danielle Hill narrowly missed out on a place in the 50m backstroke final despite producing a season's best of 27.71 in the semi-finals, just seven hundredths of a second off her Irish record. The Larne swimmer finished twelfth overall. "I don't know, very mixed emotions,' Hill reflected. "It is fast. It's now become an Olympic event, so a few more people are a little bit more switched on. I want to be in that final, but I've been around that time now for a couple of years, so there's something we've got to look at and change.' Thursday will see a busy morning for Team Ireland with five swimmers and one diver in action. Hill returns for the 100m freestyle, John Shortt lines up in the 200m backstroke, and Mona McSharry, Ellie McCartney, and Eoin Corby are all set for the 200m breaststroke. In diving, Jake Passmore begins his campaign in the 3M springboard preliminaries. With 66 entrants, the event is split into two groups. Passmore will need to await the conclusion of the second preliminary to learn if he's progressed to the top 18 and secured a place in the semi-final.
Irish Daily Mirror
19 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Daniel Wiffen beaten in World Championship swimming title defence
Daniel Wiffen finished eighth in the 800 metres freestyle final on Wednesday, surrendering the first of his World Championship swimming titles in Singapore. The Olympic champion, exactly a year on from his gold medal victory in Paris, recorded a time of 7:58.56 as Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi (7:36.88) won gold ahead of German pair Sven Schwarz and Lukas Martens. Wiffen, defending the world title he won in Doha last year, raced from lane 1 and led early in the race. But he slipped to fifth place midway through the race before finishing eighth. The 24-year-old, who is recovering from appendicitis, said his stomach was "in pieces" during the race at the World Aquatics Championships. "I know last time I spoke, I didn't think I was going to make the final but we got in there, we got eighth place, last in the final," the Armagh man reflected afterwards. "Obviously, not my best showing, from last year winning the Olympics to coming eighth in the final. But honestly, I'm happy to be in the final, still progressing. "Still getting those nerves up. That's what sport's about, trying to get myself comfortable and I was definitely comfortable in that race. "I'm pretty sure I was leading at one point, and then I got to the 400 and then (my) stomach was in pieces. "So, not my best showing but I'm happy to be in the final, happy to represent Ireland again in the final." Wiffen, who was the last of qualifiers for the 800m freestyle final after clocking a time of 7:46.36 in his heat on Tuesday morning, will defend his 1,500m freestyle title over the weekend. The heats take place on Saturday morning, with the final taking place on Sunday, the final day of the tournament.
Belfast Telegraph
20 hours ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen struggles in World Championships 800m Final: ‘It wasn't my best showing'
The Olympic champion finished a disappointing eighth in the final, well off his usual pace. Irish swimmer led after 300 metres, but was soon reeled in before his title defence faded away. Wiffen's preparations for the World Championships were hindered by a bout of appendicitis. After the race, Wiffen said: "It obviously wasn't my best showing, from last year winning the Olympics to being eighth in the final. "Honestly, I'm happy to be in the final and still progressing. It wasn't my best showing but I was happy to be in the final." Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi took the gold medal with a time of 7:36.88, ahead of the German pair of Sven Schwartz and Lukas Martens. Wiffen finished last with a time of 7:58.56. Wiffen's focus now moves to his 1500m Freestyle title defence, with the heats set for Saturday.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Ellen Walshe and Danielle Hill seal semi-final spots at World Aquatic Championships
and Danielle Hill have booked their places in the semi-finals of the women's 200m butterfly and 50m backstroke respectively at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, while Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen will be in men's 800m freestyle final action this afternoon. Walshe, who was a finalist in the the 200m individual event earlier this week, was taking part in the butterfly heats over the same distance on Wednesday, having brought it back into her repertoire for the first time in five years earlier in 2025. But the Templeogue swimmer showed no rust in the discipline as she finished second in her heat in a time of 2:09.15 behind USA's Regan Smith (2:08.17) and qualified seventh fastest overall for a place in the semi-finals. Walshe's time was the third fastest of her career and was a little way outside of the 2:08.42 national record she holds in the 200m butterfly which she set in March. The 23-year-old will return to the pool at 1.22pm Irish time for the second semi-final heat and was cautiously optimistic that she could contend for a place in the final. "I'm not going to jump straight to that, but I think to go out there tonight and do what I did this morning, like control the first 100 to an extent and then just get after the second 100 as strong as I can and just see where it places me tonight," she said, adding, "It should be a good race, it's quite stacked out there." Fellow Olympian Hill matched her season's best 27.84 on the way to winning her heat in the 50m backstroke, just 0.20 outside of her national record, and qualified 10th overall. "I'm buzzing. I know I might not sound or look it, but I think after Monday (100m backstroke heats) I was a little bit disappointed in myself," she said. "But, I took that swim forward and I looked at it and the shoulder wasn't sore and so all I had to take was confidence from the event, and bring it into this morning, and again, worked with the team throughout the last 24 hours to make sure that I was behind that block again and stood up this time and done the right job." The Larne swimmer will be in semi final action at 12.38pm Irish time, shortly after Paris 2024 gold medalist Wiffen will compete in his 800m freestyle final at 12.02pm. Wiffen, who is recovering from appendicitis, clocked seven minutes 46.36 seconds to finish fifth in his heat on Tuesday, said he was feeling "really weak at the moment". Evan Bailey missed out on a place in the 100m Freestyle semi-finals but came close to his personal best in finishing in a time of 49.52 on the way to a second place finish in his heat. It is the Limerick swimmer's final individual event of the championships. "It was a decent swim, it wasn't anything special, it was 0.4 off my PB, but yeah, just to get in, swim, get that experience here, get it under the belt, so next time I come back, I'll know exactly what to do," he said. "Not the best of my life, but the focus hasn't really been sprint and the 100 free recently. The last few months I've been up at altitude and working more on my endurance and just build my aerobic capacity to build that 200 (freestyle), so I'm not overly disappointed with that time for the 100 as it wasn't really the main focus, but hopefully now I'm going to try building the speed in the next coming months and I'll get that 100 better along with the 200, so I'll have multiple events."
