Daniel Wiffen scraps through to 800m Freestyle final at World Aquatics Championships
FINAL: Olympic 800m champion Daniel Wiffen has qualified for the Freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Pic: Ian MacNicol/Sportsfile
Olympic 800m champion Daniel Wiffen has qualified for the Freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Wiffen finished in a time of 7:46.36 to finish fifth in his heat and had a nervous wait to see if he would progress to the final.
As the final heat results were confirmed, Wiffen reached the final in eighth overall and will have the outside lane for the final on Wednesday, where he looks to defend his World Championships title, which he won in Doha last year.
Speaking after the race, Wiffen was disappointed with his overall swim but now has the chance to defend his title.
"I mean, obviously pretty disappointed with the overall swim of the 800, but we’ve got a lane, so we’ve got a chance to defend my title, and I’m going in with that mindset of that I can win this still, even though I’m eighth in.
"I just feel really weak at the moment. I felt it in the 400m (Freestyle) and then I felt it in the 800 free, so something’s going wrong, I just need to figure out what it is and then change it for tomorrow night’s final."
The 800m Men's Freestyle final will take place on Wednesday at 12.02pm (Irish time) which is exactly one year on from when Wiffen won gold at the Olympics in Paris.
National Centre Limerick's Jack Cassin swam a personal best to secure a top 20 place in the World in the 200m Butterfly heats.
Cassin's PB of 1:57.04 beats his best of 1:57.34 at the European U23 Championships in June where he finished fourth in the final.
The Cork man was delighted with his swim after the race.Â
"I’m definitely happy with that, you know. It’s been a long season, so I’m kind of happy to drop some more time in that 200.Â
"You know, trials wasn’t exactly what I wanted, and then I was really happy with the time that I went at Europeans U23s, so, to kind of come back and improve a little bit there. Definitely have to like refine some skills, see what I can work on for the next season, but it’s definitely motivated me now."
Speaking on his debut at the World Championships, Cassin added: "I mean, it’s unreal, you know, we have some of the senior guys, like Mona, Daniel, Ellen, Danielle, and they’ve all been here so many times for World Champs, they’ve been to Games.Â
"So, to kind of feed off that experience that they’ve had and learn from them. I’ve definitely took some tips from Danielle and she’s kind of told me what to do, not to be stressed, you know, not really many people are looking at you here, so it’s kind of nice to be in your own zone and focus on yourself."
No Irish swimmers were in action in the afternoon session on Tuesday in Singapore. Wednesday will see Ellen Walshe return to the water in the 200m Butterfly heats. Walshe only added this event to her roster earlier this year after a five-year gap and has made big strides from a best of 2:14.15 in 2020 to an Irish Record of 2:08.42 in March this year.
Danielle Hill will take part in the 50m Backstroke, with Evan Bailey back in the pool for the 100m Freestyle heats.Â
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