Irish swimmers brought their outstanding form from the opening day of the European Short Course Championships into the second day of racing, with five swimmers progressing from this morning’s heats to finals and semi-finals.
Twins Daniel and Nathan Wiffen cruised into tomorrow’s 1500m Freestyle Final, progressing first and seventh respectively.
Daniel, who won Ireland’s first ever European Short Course Gold medal last night in the 400m Freestyle, touched in 14:34.50, conserving his energy for the final, the 22-year-old has a best time of 14:14.45 in the event.
Speaking after the race Daniel said, ‘My goal there was just to try and make it as easy as possible after last night and the toll it would have had on me, so as easy as possible to make it back and I’m happy to be first and in lane four for the final.’
For Nathan, the swim secured a first European Final at his debut Team Ireland competition. The Loughborough swimmer, home in 14:39.34, knocked a massive nine seconds off his previous best of 14:48.69.
Commenting post-race Nathan said ‘I’d said beforehand I want to make a final at my first international, and I’ve done that, very happy. I think I had a nine second pb, towards the start I had to go with everybody, but it felt comfortable in the end’.
Last night’s bronze medallist in the 400m Individual Medley, Ellen Walshe, was also back in action this morning in the 100m version of the event.
Walshe clocked 1:00.20 to progress to this evening’s semi-final in tenth place overall and is looking forward to this evening’s semi-final ‘It’s nice to have another swim tonight, the 100m IM is not something I race much, or anybody would race regularly, but it’s a quick speedy one and hopefully I’ll be faster tonight.’
Maria Godden, the first Irish swimmer in action this morning, made her European Short Course Championships debut in the 200m Backstroke Heats. The National Centre Limerick swimmer was third in her heat in a personal best time of 2:07.10 and advances to the semi-final in twelfth place.
Godden spoke after the race saying ‘I’m a little bit tired, that was my first swim and the first one is always a little bit tricky, get the nerves out of the way, but I’m delighted, my dad flew out last night, so I was delighted to swim a personal best and all of my teammates are doing really well so that really inspired me to go out today.’
In the Men’s 50m Freestyle, Tom Fannon was the best of three Irish swimmers and confirmed his semi-final place in 21.56.
Fannon holds the Irish long course (50m) record in the event and will be aiming to break the short course record of 21.35 in this evening’s semi-final ‘It’s good, my first semi-final for Ireland which is nice, especially short course, so I’ll take that, I’m looking forward to tonight, go back get a rest, get some food in me and hopefully be in the 21 lows tonight, try to aim for that Irish record.’
Also competing in the Men’s 50m Freestyle were Dylan Registe and Oisin Tebite, with both clocking personal best times of 22.50 and 22.87 respectively.
In the 100m Breaststroke, Liam O’Connor was second in his heat in a best time of 1:00.25 while Grace Davison touched in 1:02.47 in the 100m Individual Medley.
Shane Ryan will join Walshe, Godden and Fannon in action this evening, competing in the Final of the Men’s 50m Backstroke.
2023 European Aquatics SC Swimming Championships (Otopeni, Romania)
Day 2 – Wednesday 6th December l Heats Results
| Women’s 200m Backstroke | Maria Godden | 2:07.10 (12th) SF |
| Men’s 50m Freestyle | Tom Fannon | 21.56 (16th) SF |
| Dylan Registe | 22.50 (43rd) | |
| Oisin Tebite | 22.87 (45th) | |
| Men’s 100m Breaststroke | Liam O’Connor | 1:00.25 (29th) |
| Women’s 100m Individual Medley | Ellen Walshe | 1:00.20 (10th) SF |
| Grace Davison | 1:02.47 (25th) | |
| Men’s 1500m Freestyle Heats | Daniel Wiffen | 14:34.50 (1st) F |
| Nathan Wiffen | 14:39.34 (7th) F |
Day 2 – Wednesday 6th December l Finals Schedule (All times Irish)
| Men 50m Backstroke Final | Shane Ryan | 4.05pm |
| Men 50m Freestyle Semi-Final | Tom Fannon | 4.16pm |
| Women 200m Backstroke Semi-Final | Maria Godden | 5.16pm |
| Women 100m Individual Medley Semi-Final | Ellen Walshe | 5.26pm |
