Daniel Wiffen, the man from Magheralin, and hailing from Larne SC, has reached the pinnacle of sport: he has won an Olympic Gold Medal. Wiffen competed in the 800m Freestyle final yesterday evening (30th July) where he took to centre lane.
As the world watched on, we seen Daniel stand the test of time to come home and win the final, claiming Olympic Gold. He touched in an outstanding time of 7:38.19 – setting a new Olympic Record (previously set by Mykhalo Romanchuk of Ukraine – 7:41.28 – set back at the Tokyo Games in 2021), a new European Record, and a new Irish Senior Record.
In a nail-biting race Wiffen beat Tokyo 2020 gold medallist American Bobby Finke into second place, who touched in a time of 7:38.75, with Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist in the 800m and Rio 2016 1500m Champion, claiming bronze in 7:39.38. The trio exchanged the lead throughout, with the Italian making his move at the 650m mark but there was no panic from Wiffen who kept to his own plan. On hitting the wall for the final turn at the 50m mark Wiffen kicked for home, passing Paltrinieri and holding off a sprint finish from reigning champion Bobby Finke outside of him to touch the wall first cementing his place in the history books.
1. Daniel Wiffen (IRL) – 7:38.19 (Gold)
2. Bobby Finke (USA) – 7:38.75 (Silver)
3. Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) – 7:39.38 (Bronze)
4. Ahmed Jaouadi – 7:42.83
5. Sven Schwarz – 7:43.59
5. David Aubry – 7:43.59
7. Luca de Tullio – 7:46.16
8. Elijah Winnington – 7:48.36
This achievement by Daniel rounds off an amazing year for the young man. Within the last year, became the first Irish swimmer to ever medal at a World Long Course Championships in February, before becoming double world champion in the 800m & 1500m freestyle, and his 14:34.07 in the latter was the fifth fastest in history.After the race concluded, Wiffen said “I don’t think a lot of people actually believed me that I was going to do it tonight but yeah it was incredible. I’ve done it”.
As a result of this amazing performance from Daniel, he is now the 4th Northern Irish athlete to win an Olympic Gold medal as he joins such an esteemed list of names:
- Lady Mary Peters
- Stephen Martin
- Jimmy Kirkwood
After an evening of celebrations, Daniel will now focus and prepare to race in the 1500m Freestyle which is scheduled for Saturday 3rd August. We wish him the best of luck for his next race!