World Champion in the 800m Freestyle, Daniel Wiffen, has confirmed his place in the 1500m Freestyle Final, his third final of the week; while Mona McSharry secured her place in the 50m Breaststroke Semi-Final, after a fifth-place finish in Friday night’s 200m Breaststroke Final.
Winning his heat in 14:54.29, Daniel Wiffen is the sixth seed for tomorrow’s Final, just eight tenths of a second inside the top eight. The Magheralin man has a best time in the event of 14:34.91.
Speaking after the race Wiffen said ‘I’m good, I tried to take it as easy as possible and just pace it to get back, I’m in sixth position going in, I could have missed it by .8 there, so I’m pretty happy with that, I did what I wanted to do, it was fun for me’.
The 22-year-old knew exactly what he needed to do going in the final heat of four ‘I knew exactly my pace, I think I’m getting quite good at hitting a certain pace in training and in my warm up I knew what was going to make it back. To be honest, it’s faster than what I thought was going to make it back, but I’m just happy to be on the right side of it’.
On tomorrow’s Final Wiffen said ‘I’m just going to try and go in with the same attitude, pace it how I want to pace it, post a good time and hopefully get on the podium’.
2023 World Champion Ahmed Hafnaoui of Tunisia is out of the Final, finishing seventeenth in 15:09.02.
The 1500m Freestyle Final will take place on Sunday at 4.16pm (IRL).
After a fifth-place finish in the 200m Breaststroke Final on Friday night, her second fifth place of the week, Mona McSharry was back on the blocks for the 50m Breaststroke heats. The 23-year-old touched second in her heat in 30.72 and progresses to this afternoon’s Semi-Final ranked seventh.
Speaking after the race the Sligo swimmer said ‘I’m happy with that, that’s a good morning swim, I think there’s room to improve for sure, but coming off the 200m is never going to be easy so it’s a good starting point.’
On the quick turnaround from Friday night’s Final McSharry said ‘I think it’s all about preparation in the warm-up and making sure you’re moving on from last night and just moving forward and focusing on the future. I think I did a good job, so hopefully I can go faster tonight.’
The 50m Breaststroke Semi-Final will take place on Saturday at 4.25pm (IRL).
Erin Riordan closed out her Championships, with a first individual race at World level, in the 50m Freestyle. The National Centre Dublin swimmer clocked 26.26.
Daily reports will issue from Doha.
Results Day 7 Heats
Women 50m Freestyle Erin Riordan 26.26 (43rd)
Women 50m Breaststroke Mona McSharry 30.72 (7th)
Men 1500m Freestyle Daniel Wiffen 14:54.29 (6th)
Schedule – Day 7 Finals
Women 50m Breaststroke SF Mona McSharry 4.25pm (IRL)
