What's Ireland’s best chance of landing an eighth medal at the Paris Olympic Games?
Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke after finishing 2nd. pic: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
The Double Olympic medallist has his final race in the River Seine this Friday.
Ireland's gold and bronze medal winner is set to take part in the 10k open water event.
While a practice session was scheduled for midweek, Wiffen said he would not be involved due to water quality concerns. On his channel, he has documented his practice swimming around buoys and open water fuelling.
Wiffen has never participated in marathon swimming at any level but has his sights set on a podium place. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri, who came third in the 800m freestyle and second in 1500m, is also in the race having finished third in the event at Tokyo 2020.
"It's going to be a great race,” said Wiffen. “Greg is one of the fastest open-water swimmers ever. To race him in the pool was great, and then to come into his realm and have a go, I'm sure it's going to be a fun race.”
The 21-year-old Dubliner clocked a 49.95 in her semi-final to become the first Irishwoman ever to make an Olympic sprint final.
The form lines aren’t encouraging, given she clocked a PB of 49.07 when winning silver at the Europeans in June.
Remember she eased up down the stretch to win her heat in a time of 50.09. Even still, she covered the first 200m in 23.40, well ahead of the 23.69 she split in June.
In the semi-final, it was 23.22 at 200m. However, she covered the final 100m in a subpar 14.51.
“That was a very messy race. I’m just really excited that I’m able to get into the final," she said of the semi-final.
“Back to square one and go again. I’ve been in a place where the round maybe hasn’t gone how I wanted it but the final went great so I am not too worried about it.”
The 23-year-old cyclist from Enniskerry, Wicklow will compete in the Team Pursuit, Madison and Omnium.
In 2023, she won two European U23 track titles (Omnium and Points), and, in her first campaign in the UCI Track Champions League, won the Elimination race in the final round finishing fourth overall.
She was just pipped for bronze in the Omnium at this year’s senior Europeans, and won an Omnium bronze at the Ghent International at the start of July.
Gillespie is paired with Alice Sharpe in the Madison but has an opportunity in the Omnium too. She won’t be a medal favourite yet has the skillset to impress on Sunday.
The Omnium is a ‘multi-event’ race which, since Rio 2016, has been reduced to four disciplines over one day.
Results of the first three events are converted to points (40 to winner, 38 to second and so on) ahead of the final Points race.
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