2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- July 23 to 30, 2023
- Fukuoka, Japan
- Marine Messe Fukuoka
- LCM (50m)
- WORLD CHAMPS WATCH PARTY – DAILY
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Entry Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
As expected, the heats of the men’s 800m freestyle at these World Championships were brutal, with a time of 7:45.80 needed to make it back for the final.
Among the top 8 finishers this morning was Irishman Daniel Wiffen with the 22-year-old clocking a result of 7:43.81 to snag the 4th seed. The Loughborough ace didn’t pull any punches, ripping a new national record to secure his spot in the medal-deciding race.
Entering this competition, Wiffen’s lifetime best and Irish national record stood at the 7:44.45 he produced just this past April while competing at the Stockholm Swim Open. Today’s performance hacked well over half a second off of that mark to further cement him as one of the best distance freestylers in the world right now. He also hit the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
As swift as Wiffen was, he’ll have his work cut out for him, with Sam Short of Australia already cranking out a time of 7:40.90 to land the pole position.
Nevertheless, Wiffen said of his race, “I’m feeling great, that’s obviously job one done which was to qualify for the Olympics, and then to progress to the final was next so I’ve done both in a really great race.
“My plan was to be as easy as possible, and I was maybe hoping for a tiny bit faster but I’m really happy I made it back and it wasn’t too taxing in the body.” (RTE Ireland)
Splits for Wiffen’s race are below:
MEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – HEATS
- World Record: Zhang Lin, China – 7:32.12 (2009)
- World Junior Record: Lorenzo Galossi, Italy – 7:43.37 (2022)
- Championship Record: Zhang Lin, China – 7:32.12 (2009)
- 2022 World Champion: Bobby Finke, United States – 7:39.36
- Top 8 at 2022 Worlds: 7:47.46
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Sam Short (Australia) – 7:40.90
- Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia) – 7:41.97
- Lukas Martens (Germany) – 7:42.04
- Daniel Wiffen (Ireland) – 7:43.81
- Bobby Finke (United States) – 7:43.87
- Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine) – 7:44.07
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) – 7:44.89
- Guilherme Costa (Brazil) – 7:45.80
