2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Duna Arena
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Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen made history again on Friday morning, becoming the first Irish swimmer to break 15 minutes in the 1500 free.
Wiffen swam 14:57.66, which was good for 9th place in the preliminary heats of the event. That swim breaks his own record of 15:02.78 that was set in April of this year at the Swim Open Stockholm.
Wiffen has broken this record five times now since he first slipped under Andrew Meegan’s old mark. Meegan was 15:19.98 in 2013 for the prior record, with Wiffen’s first break being a 15:19.04 in December 2020 at the Irish Winter Meet.
Irish Record Progression, Men’s 1500 Free:
- 15:19.98 – Andrew Meegan, July 30, 2013
- 15:19.04 – Daniel Wiffen, December 17, 2020
- 15:16.90 – Daniel Wiffen, April 23, 2021 (Irish Trials)
- 15:07.69 – Daniel Wiffen, July 30, 2021 (Tokyo Olympics)
- 15:02.78 – Daniel Wiffen, April 10, 2022
- 14:57.66 – Daniel Wiffen, June 24, 2022
In total, he has now knocked more than 22 seconds off the former record in the event.
The 21-year old is now the Irish Record holder in the 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles in long course, plus the 800 and 1500 free in short course: all swims that have come in preliminary rounds of competition.
Splits Comparison, Daniel Wiffen‘s 1500 Freestyles:
| First Record-Breaking Swim | Most Recent Record Breaking Swim |
World Championships Record Breaking Swim
|
|
| December 2020 | April 2022 | June 2022 | |
| 100m | 58.02 | 58.18 | 58.34 |
| 200m | 61.06 | 60.14 | 59.56 |
| 300m | 61.41 | 59.75 | 59.74 |
| 400m | 61.09 | 60.12 | 59.32 |
| 500m | 60.90 | 59.80 | 59.58 |
| 600m | 60.74 | 59.80 | 59.71 |
| 700m | 61.59 | 60.28 | 59.84 |
| 800m | 61.39 | 60.68 | 59.84 |
| 900m | 62.17 | 60.39 | 60.32 |
| 1000m | 61.72 | 60.99 | 60.40 |
| 1100m | 62.16 | 61.16 | 60.55 |
| 1200m | 62.38 | 61.43 | 60.77 |
| 1300m | 62.34 | 60.84 | 60.38 |
| 1400m | 62.00 | 60.79 | 60.69 |
| 1500m | 60.07 | 58.43 | 58.62 |
| Final Time | 15:19.04 | 15:02.78 | 14:57.66 |
A comparison of splits from his first record-breaking swim to his most recent shows a dramatic increase in consistency this week in Budapest. In his first record-breaking swim in 2020, he was only under 60 once, in the opening 100, and his times bounced around from 60.74 to as high as 62.34.
By April of this year, he had dramatically improved his overall timing, but the splits were still fairly-inconsistent.
On Friday morning, while Wiffen had a clear break between his first 800 and his last 700 meters, within those groupings, he was way more consistent in his splitting. That includes matching splits exactly on the 7th and 8th 100 meter chunks.
Wiffen trains abroad at Loughborough University in England.
With only eight advancing to the final, Wiffen won’t repeat his feat from earlier in the meet, when he became the first Irish man to advance to a swimming final at the World Aquatics Championships. He wound up placing 8th in the final of the 800.
Wiffen missed the final in the men’s 1500 by .77 seconds behind British swimmer Daniel Jervis, who was the 8th and final qualifier. Germany’s Florian Wellbrock was the fastest swimmer in the heats in 14:50.12, but
Another foreigner claiming to be Irish
Born in Britain with British parents .will be British after commonwealth when suits
whoo tha fook is that guy?
Historic swim. And massive congratulations!
Has dropped almost 23 seconds off his best in less than 2 years? What a boss