Daniel Wiffen Breaks Grant Hackett’s 1500 Freestyle Mare Nostrum Tour Record In 14:54.81

2025 MARE NOSTRUM – CANET

• Saturday, May 24th & Sunday, May 25th
• Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/Finals at 5:30pm local (11:30am ET)
• Canet, France
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Day 1 Finals Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
• Live Results

There has been plenty of fast distance swimming already this year, and Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen continued that trend during the Canet stop of the 2025 Mare Nostrum Swim Tour’s final session. Wiffen broke the second-oldest record on the Mare Nostrum books this evening by swimming a 14:54.81 in the men’s 1500-meter freestyle final. The swim wiped away Grant Hackett’s record of 15:00.58, which had stood since the 2007 Barcelona stop.

This is Wiffen’s second Mare Nostrum record of the tour, as he broke the 800-meter freestyle record last week in Barcelona with a 7:45.17.

The reigning Olympic champion in the 800-meter freestyle, Wiffen pulled into the lead at the 250-meter mark, passing Ahmed Jaouadi, who won the 400-meter freestyle with a Canet championship record yesterday. Wiffen really began to extend his lead after the 600-meter mark and swam away to become the only man in the field under 15 minutes in this final.

Wiffen’s 1500-meter Freestyle Splits

While this swim breaks a long-standing record, Wiffen has already been faster this season. He swam a 14:42.71 at the Irish Open in April that ranks fourth-fastest in the world this season. There, he set himself up to defend his two podium finishes from the Paris Games at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore. He seems to have taken a different approach to this season after the Games than in 2023 and 2024. Both those years, he broke 14:40 in the lead-up to the major international meet of the season. In 2023, he broke out with a 14:34.91 at the Malmsten Swim Open. Last year, he swam his lifetime best 14:34.07 to win gold at the 2024 World Championships and followed up with bronze in Paris (14:39.63).

The oldest Mare Nostrum record belongs to Ian Thorpe, who has held the 400-meter freestyle tour record since 2001. The second-oldest record is still on the men’s side, with Laszlo Cseh’s 4:07.96 400 IM from 2008 now occupying that spot. Meanwhile, the oldest record on the women’s side of the books is Rebecca Adlington’s 8:19.86 800-meter freestyle from 2012.

Courtesy: Retta Race

MEN’S 1500 FREE – FINAL

• World record: 14:30.67 – Bobby Finke (USA), 2024
• Mare Nostrum record: 15:00.58 – Grant Hackett (AUS), 2007
• Canet record: 15:00.71 – Florian Wellbrock (GER), 2016
• World Aquatics ‘A’ QT – 15:01.89

GOLD – Daniel Wiffen (IRL), 14:54.81 *Mare Nostrum Record
SILVER – Andri-Theodor Proca (ROU), 15:01.66
BRONZE – Ahmed Jaouadi (TUN), 15:02.53

A big-time Mare Nostrum Tour record bit the dust tonight, as Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen of Ireland established a new standard en route to winning this men’s 1500m freestyle final.

23-year-old Wiffen of Loughborough crushed a gold medal-worthy result of 14:54.81, overtaking the longstanding Mare Nostrum record of 15:00.58 Aussie legend Grant Hackett put on the books in 2007.

Romania’s Andri-Theodor Proca secured silver in 15:01.66 to get his nation on the board while Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi rounded out the podium in 15:02.53.

Wiffen’s outing here was a solid in-season follow-up to his season-best of 14:42.71 logged at April’s Irish Open to qualify him for the World Championshps and as well as insert him into the world rankings in the 4th slot.

As for Romanian Andri-Theodor Proca, his time tonight represented a monster personal best, ripping his previous PB of 15:23.25 to shreds. That former outing rendered him the 4th place finisher at last year’s European Junior Championships.