Ireland’s Daniel Whiffen wins second gold medal at World Championships with dominant swim – Irish Times

Now his time has come.

If you’ve been listening to Daniel Whiffen’s stories in recent months, especially after becoming the first Irish swimmer to break a world record in December, we’re sure you’ve heard of Daniel Whiffen’s achievements inside Doha’s Aspire Dome this week. It may not have been all that surprising.

Not only is Wiffen good at speaking, he’s even better at letting swimming speak for him, and after winning an astonishing two gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships, he can now be heard loud and clear for the whole world to hear. Ta.

The 22-year-old has continued his growth trajectory since qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 19, despite setting the then Irish record 7:51.65 in the 800m (14 (finished in 1st place), but did not reach the finals in 15th place. 1500m 07.69 (20th place finish).

This week in Doha, he won his first gold medal in the 800m on Wednesday with a time of 7:40.94, two seconds ahead of the runner-up, and on Sunday night’s 1500m with a time of 14:34.07, 10 seconds behind the runner-up. won the gold medal. The best. You do the math.

In both cases, his race strategy and execution were entirely faultless, and Wiffen moved to Loughborough University to train in the Elite Swimming Program under the guidance of Andy Manley, also in the year of the Tokyo Olympics. It definitely benefited me.

The rewards keep getting bigger and bigger, and Wiffen earns $20,000 for each gold medal he wins, pocket money compared to other professional sports, but he’s turned away from swimming in hopes of the huge fortunes that come with fame. No one becomes an elite athlete.

Wiffen could have earned an additional $30,000 if he had broken the world record, which has been held by Sun Yang since the 2012 London Olympics, at 14:31.02. It is a record.

Regarding the survival of Yang’s world record, Wiffen said: “It’s definitely one of my goals to break that at some point. I’m 22 years old, I’ve got at least eight years left, I’ll be able to go to the Olympics a couple more times, and I’m sure That will come true someday, and I want to be the person who can make it happen. ”

His time of 14:34.07 moves him to fifth place on the all-time list, and is now the second best in Europe behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltolinieri, who missed out on the final by one place.

In fact, Whiffen had already made Irish swimming history last December when he shaved three seconds off the short course 800m mark, breaking the world record en route to a third European short course gold medal. The time it took for him to make this 1500m mark his own.

It took more than 50 years for Ireland to win their first medal on this stage, but in the end Wiffen single-handedly led Ireland to a tie for 10th place in the Doha final medal standings, ahead of Germany and Japan, who are often thought of as swimming powerhouses. . All 30 countries won medals, with the United States, China and Australia leading the way.

[ Who is Daniel Wiffen, Ireland’s first swimmer to break a world record? ]

Some veteran swimming commentators have highlighted the fact that some of the Paris podium contenders will not be in Doha. Certainly Wiffen didn’t have to worry about American Bobby Finke or Australia’s Sam Short, who took two podiums in the 800m and 1500m in Fukuoka. Last year’s 800m and 1500m world champion, Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui, failed to advance to either final.

Still, Wiffen’s performance was such that he also won the golden trophy for Best Male Swimmer after reaching the final three times in total, and he could have gone fast again against any kind of team on Sunday night. unknown.

Mona McSharry also finished eighth in her third final in Doha, this time after building a reasonable lead in the non-Olympic event, the 50m breaststroke.

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 of Lithuania taking home the title in 29.40 seconds. Reached.

McSharry, who swam Lane 1, finished with a score of 30.96. “I’m a little hard on myself, but three finals is definitely progress and something positive,” she said. “My main goal going into this tournament was to practice through the rounds so I could look my best throughout the tournament, and I’m sure it will be the same in Paris.”

The Sligo swimmer, who has already finished fifth twice in the 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke, will also compete in the Irish women’s 4x100m medley relay in Paris, with her time better than last year’s world championships. His time of 1:01.25 seconds was enough to place him in 15th place out of 16 competitors. Invited team.

The team of Daniel Hill (backstroke), McSharley (breaststroke), Ellen Walsh (butterfly) and Victoria Catterson (freestyle) also has two individual qualifiers for McSharley and Walsh that are important for Olympic selection. This is the first time since 1972 that Ireland has qualified for the relay in the women’s event.

[ Mona McSharry: ‘I’d come to the conclusion that I hated swimming’ ]

“And one of the good things is that we now have a spot in the relay,” McSharry said. “This is the last meet in Paris and I think it’s kind of a show that swimming is going to Ireland.”

Earlier, the men’s 4x100m medley relay saw Ireland’s first relay reach the World Long Course Championship final, with Conor Ferguson (backstroke), Darragh Green (breaststroke), Max McCusker (butterfly), Shane Ryan (freestyle) placed 7th in the final. 3:35.28, Polish team promoted one spot after being disqualified

The American team won this race with a time of 3 minutes 29.80 seconds, and the Irish men were also in the top 16 in 13th place, but they will need two individual qualifying rounds to secure their spot.

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