Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen has exploded onto the World radar this past weekend not only breaking three Irish National Records but the fastest time in the world this season in the 1,500 metres and the fourth fastest time in history behind only three Olympic and World Champions.
His time of 14:34.91 was a full 15 seconds off his own national record and only three seconds off the World Record. This is a level of achievement in one of the key Olympic sports that puts him in contention as one of the Irish sporting stars of 2023, only just over a year away from the Paris Olympic Games.
He was competing at the Stockholm Open Meet where he landed the 400 Metres, 800 metres and 1,500 metres.
He now leads the 2023 World rankings in the 800m and 1500m Freestyle.
In the spectacular 1,500 metres swim he beat Olympic bronze medallist in the event, Mykhaylo Romanchuk, into the silver medal position, with the Ukrainian finishing in 7:47.12, a full 13 seconds behind.
Wiffen hails from Magheralin in County Antrim and became the first able-bodied Irish swimmer to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
He will now take in a number of preparation meets in Europe ahead of the July World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, which will be a first opportunity for him to post a qualification time for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Qualification for the Games now looks to be only at the starting point of his ambitions.
