Such global adult births are rare, if ever. Daniel Wiffen produced another absolute masterclass in freestyle swimming, winning his second gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships and the ultimate recognition award to go with it.
The overwhelming margin by which Wiffen won the 1,500m freestyle, along with his gold medal in the 800m last Wednesday night, was not yet over for his best moment inside Doha’s Aspire Dome. It means something. For Wiffen, 22, now is the time.
Because if any of the chatter beforehand was about whether Ireland could win their first ever medal at this championship level, which has been the carnation of competitive swimming since 1973, Wiffen delivered two amazing performances. The answer is that it is now the topic of conversation throughout the swimming world. .
So at the end of Sunday’s final session, Wiffen won a total of six medals, including four gold medals, and won the golden trophy for best male swimmer, along with Claire Curzan of the United States, who was named best female swimmer. I returned to the presentation area to receive it.
Wiffen had arguably the most impressive swim of the past eight days in the pool, turning the 1,500m final into his own 30-length glory. Kuzey Tunceli, a 16-year-old from Turkey, took an early lead, but just after the 100m mark, Wiffen took the lead and the race was effectively over.
From there, Wiffen spent most of the race chasing the world record, finishing just three seconds shy of it. His time of 14:34.07 remains the fastest swim of his life and the fifth fastest of all time. His astonishing 10-second victory was the largest at the event since 2010.
“I think when I got to 800 meters I thought, ‘I need the support of the crowd here,’ because I almost died in the middle,” he said. “So the support really helped me there too. But that race was definitely good for me, I set a new personal best, progressed from 400m to 800m to 1500m and won two world titles. I’m really glad I did it.”
German long-distance specialist Florian Wellbrock won silver in 14:44.61, ahead of 27-year-old David Aubri of France, who won bronze in 14:44.85.
Wiffen pulled away from his rivals with breathtaking ease, already leading by around seven seconds by half-time and leading by ten seconds with 100 meters to go, so they could only chase in vain.
At that point, all he had in mind was $30,000 (€28,000) if he set the world record of 14:31.02, which Sun Yang has held since the 2012 London Olympics. It was a bonus. This was before the Chinese swimmer was sentenced to an eight-year suspension in 2020 for interfering with a doping test, but a subsequent appeals court reduced the punishment to four years and three months. The amount was reduced. Yang also finished that race with his unprecedented time of 53.4 seconds in the last 100 meters.
What is certain is that he not only put Irish swimming on the world map, but also the village of Magherarin on the Armagh and Down border. Wiffen’s second gold medal also solidified her prospects for the Paris Olympics, which are just over five months away. The Loughborough University student will turn 23 a week before the game starts, but is just entering his sporting prime.
He also admitted that the race strategy was clear. Get out early and stay there.
“Yeah, 100 percent, I was talking about that with coach Andy before.” [Manley], we even made a little bet on whether he would beat his personal best. But that was it. Get out there a little earlier than everyone else, stay in your own lane, swim your own race, stay in front and really focus on what you wanted to do. ”
Upon entering the arena, Wiffen made another personal gesture, this time looking closely at his wrist as if imagining his watch there, dialing it in before winning the 800 meters. made a gesture.
“Nathan, my twin, he’s going to make it for me. We’re going to do a little brainstorming before that,” he explained. “He just told me that this is my time and that it’s okay if I keep going. I think I was able to hint at the possibility of a personal best, so I’m really happy that I was able to perform.”
Irish swimmers have won three medals so far at the World Short Course (25m Pool) Championships: Shane Ryan (2018 Bronze), Ellen Walsh (2021 Silver) and Mona McSharry (2021 Bronze) However, he has never won a medal in the standard Olympic-sized 50-meter pool. And now Wiffen has two gold medals of her own.
His parents Rachel and Jonathan were in Doha to witness his historic achievement, along with Nathan, who is also competing to qualify for Paris. Wiffen also finished seventh in the 400m final, earning him an additional $20,000 for his second gold medal.
Mona McSharry earlier placed eighth in her third final of the week, this time in the non-Olympic 50m breaststroke with a close result.
McSharry competed against some of the world’s best breaststroke specialists in the event, which she describes as a “splash and dash”, with world record holder and defending champion Ruta Meilutite from Lithuania taking home the title in 29.40 seconds. reached.
Next, 19-year-old Chinese athlete Tan Chenting won the silver medal in the 100m event with a time of 29.51 seconds, followed by Italian world junior record holder Benadetta Pilato, also only 19 years old, with a time of 30.01 seconds. He took 3rd place.
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