‘I just feel really weak at the moment’ – Ireland’s Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen scrapes into World 800m final

Wiffen clocked 7:46.36 to finish fifth in his heat and had a nerve-wrecking wait to see if he would progress.

With the final heat results confirmed, Wiffen progressed eighth overall and will have an outside lane for Wednesday’s final, where he will look to defend the title he won at the World Championships in Doha in 2024.

Wiffen said after the race: “I mean, obviously pretty disappointed with the overall swim of the 800, but we’ve got a lane, so we’ve got a chance to defend my title, and I’m going in with that mindset that I can win this still, even though I’m eighth in.”

Daniel Wiffen of Ireland competes in the heats of the men’s 800m freestyle during the World Aquatics Championships 2025 in Singapore. Photo by Ian MacNicol/Sportsfile

He added: “I just feel really weak at the moment. I felt it in the 400m [freestyle] and then I felt it in the 800 free, so something’s going wrong. I just need to figure out what it is and then change it for tomorrow night’s final.”

The men’s 800m freestyle final will take place on Wednesday at 12.02 (Irish time), exactly one year on from Wiffen’s gold medal-winning swim in Paris.

In the 200m butterfly heats, National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin swam a personal best 1:57.04 to secure a top-20 place in the world.

Cassin’s best had been a 1:57.34 from the European U-23 Championships in June, where he finished fourth in the final.

The Cork native said: “I’m definitely happy with that, you know. It’s been a long season, so I’m kind of happy to drop some more time in that 200. Definitely have to, like, refine some skills, see what I can work on for the next season, but it’s definitely motivated me now.”

There will be no Irish swimmers in action in Singapore on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, 200m individual medley finalist Ellen Walshe returns for the 200m butterfly heats. Walshe, who only added the event back to her roster earlier this year after a five-year gap, has already made huge strides, dropping from a best of 2:14.15 in 2020 to an Irish record of 2:08.42 in March this year.

Danielle Hill returns for the 50m backstroke and Evan Bailey, who swam the 200m Freestyle semi-final on Monday, is back for the 100m freestyle heats.

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