For the first major turning point in his swimming career Daniel Wiffen will always look back on the European Short-Course Championships in 2023. Three freestyle gold medals and a world record made sure of that.
In the 25-metre pool in Otopeni, on the outskirts of the Romanian capital Bucharest, Wiffen won the 400m, 800m and 1,500m treble, his first senior international medals. He also became the first Irish swimmer to break a world record when taking almost three seconds off the 800m mark held for 15 years by Australia’s Grant Hackett.
Two months later, Wiffen won the 800m, 1,500m double at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, then went to the Paris Olympics that July and won another gold in the 800m and bronze in the 1,500m.
Now two years on from Otopeni, the 24-year-old returns to this week’s European Short-Course Championships in Lublin, Poland looking towards a different sort of turning point. It’s his first competition since the World Championships in July, where he finished last in the 800m final and later withdrew from the 1,500m having suffered from appendicitis in June.
RM Block
He’d given his all in the 800m, revealing afterwards that he felt like his stomach “was going to explode” before undergoing surgery to have his appendix removed in early September.
Since then, Wiffen has changed his coach and training base, moving from Andi Manley at Loughborough to work under Noah Yanchulis at the University of Cal-Berkeley, alongside his twin brother Nathan.
Wiffen is part of the 12-strong Irish team in Lublin, all of whom are in action on the opening day on Tuesday. Ellen Walshe recently set six new Irish records in the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley at the World Aquatics World Cup, and is the top seed in all three events in Lublin. She goes first in the 50m butterfly.
It’s just over three months since John Shortt showed near complete dominance of all three backstroke events at the World Junior Championships – coincidentally also staged in Otopeni – when winning two gold medals and a bronze.
The 18-year-old from Galway now moves up to the senior ranks, with similar medal ambitions in Lublin having set a new Irish senior and junior record in the 200m backstroke last month.
Olympic bronze medallist Mona McSharry has opted not to travel, focusing instead on the US Open in Texas this week. Under-23 European champion Ellie McCartney, along with Eoin Corby and Adam Bradley, go in the 100m breaststroke heats, with Jack Cassin, Evan Bailey and Matthew Hamilton all in the men’s 50m butterfly heats for their first event.
European Short-Course Championships
Day 1 (Tuesday) schedule (all heats):
Men’s 400m freestyle – Daniel Wiffen, Cormac Rynn, Denis O’Brien
Women’s 50m butterfly – Ellen Walshe, Rosalie Phelan
Men’s 50m butterfly – Jack Cassin, Evan Bailey, Matthew Hamilton
Women’s 100m breaststroke – Ellie McCartney
Men’s 100m breaststroke – Eoin Corby, Adam Bradley
Men’s 200m backstroke – John Shortt
