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Daniel Wiffen qualifies for the 1500m Freestyle final at World Aquatics Championships

Wiffen and USA’s Bobby Finke secured the centre lines for the final with the two fastest preliminary times

Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen competing for Team Ireland at the World Aquatics Championships on Saturday. Photograph: Andrea Masini/Inpho
Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen competing for Team Ireland at the World Aquatics Championships on Saturday. Photograph: Andrea Masini/Inpho
Sat Jul 29 2023 - 12:53

On the penultimate day of racing at the World Aquatics Championships Team Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen qualified for the 1500m Freestyle final.

Wiffen will compete in Sunday’s final in Fukuoka, Japan after an impressive heat swim of 14:43.50. Wiffen lead for much of the race with the USA’s Bobby Finke (14:43.06) by his side. Finke took over the lead at the 1000m mark and the pair were separated in the end by only 0.44 seconds. The duo secured the centre lines for the final with the two fastest preliminary times. 800m Freestyle World Champion Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia) was the next fastest qualifier winning the third heat in 14:49.53.

Talking to the media after the race, Wiffen said: “It was great, my strategy was to go in and break up the field and I did that quite well and then after about 500m sit back on a good pace that would get me through to the final so I did that, it was good, a good race as well there with the American Bobby Finke, but it was all right, it was fun.

“I think I’m still going with my aspirations of hitting that world record (14:31.01), I need to get out now, get some recovery done for tomorrow night, 36 hours, get that done and have a good final. It hurt a little, but I’m holding back still, so still have that bit left.”

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Wiffen’s best time is a 14:34.91, which he swam in Sweden earlier this year. That swim has him ranked as the fifth fastest man in the world ever and is the fastest time of any of the swimmers competing in Sunday’s final (at 12.16pm Irish time).

Mona McSharry and Conor Ferguson bowed out at the semi-final stage of the 50m Breaststroke and 50m Backstroke respectively, after earlier in the day qualifying from their heats.

McSharry – who finished fifth in the 100m Breaststroke final earlier in the week after achieving a Paris 2024 qualification time in the heats – touched in 30.54 to place 11th overall completing her individual programme for the week.

Reflecting on her week, McSharry said: “I’m a little disappointed with that swim, obviously coming out that’s all that’s on my mind now, but yeah I do have to go back and look at the whole meet and really just take a step back, this is really something I’ve never done before,

“I’ve never gotten into three semi-finals at a world level, so that’s something to be really proud of and you know I did the job, I’ve qualified for the Olympics and now I can train for the year and be faster and stronger next year.”

Ferguson was competing in his first semi-final at a World Championships and the 23-year-old finished 13th overall in 25.09.

Speaking after the race Ferguson said: “It’s kind of a bittersweet feeling because I wasn’t faster than this morning, I was close to my PB but yeah, I’m just taking it all in, experiencing my first semi-final at a world level and at this stage, this year, coming up to the Olympic cycle, I can only take positives from it.”

Also, in action this morning, Danielle Hill clocked 25.55 in the 50m Freestyle in her final individual swim of the Championships.