Daniel Wiffen has won a gold medal in the men’s 1500m freestyle at the European Short Course Championships in Poland.
Wiffen battled with Hungarian Zalan Sarkany throughout the race, rarely overtaking him, with a close finish inevitable.
However, the Irishman eventually got on top in the final three lengths to win in a time of 14:13.96, over a second and a half ahead of Sarkany.
Germany’s Florian Wellbrock took bronze.
The Armagh native (below) explained that the race was full of emotion and even at the 800m mark, felt he may have not been able to take the win.
“I’m so happy, I went through so many emotions in that race,” he said.
“At the start, I was feeling really rough… I got to eight hundred and I thought I was done. I counted myself out of the race, and then I was somehow keeping the gap close enough.”
The 24-year-old stuck to early leader Sarkany but admitted his ability to take the win was a mental battle.
“That finish just shows the work I’ve been putting into this, and I’m so happy it came out like this,” he added.
“To be honest, I can’t describe how I did that because it was all just in my head.
“I just knew that I could go for it… I’m not going to give up without a fight.
“And it just happened to be that I was able to hammer it down and I had enough energy to carry it through to the end.”
In these championships in 2023 Wiffen claimed triple gold in the distance events.
While he wasn’t able to successfully defend the 400m title on Tuesday, he added that he doesn’t want to relinquish another title.
He said: “I’ve lost one (400m), I’ve defended one, I’ve got one more. I hope to defend that one, because I’m the world record holder.
“It’s amazing to get my first ever title defence because I’ve lost two from the world champs and now I’ve got one back… it’s just a great way to move forward to the rest of the year.”
There was another medal for Ireland as Evan Bailey placed equal third in the men’s 200m freestyle event.
Bailey posted a national record on Wednesday evening to advance to the final, and managed to swim quicker on Thursday, clocking 1:41.48 to take over half a second off the previous record to take bronze.
Kamil Sieradadzki of Poland posted the same time with judges unable to separate them.
Belfast-born Jack McMillan took the silver for Great Britain in 1:40.94 with team-mate Scott Duncan touching first to take gold in 1:40.54.
On setting a third Irish record in three days the Wexford man said he was still in shock after a blanket finish for the bronze medal saw him on the podium.
“I’m still shocked,” Bailey said.
“I kind of hit the wall and saw those lights in the block… I couldn’t believe it. I knew I was in with a chance in the race but, oh my God, I just couldn’t see it happening
“It’s what I was thinking about all day and I wanted it so badly.
“I wanted an international podium so bad all these years. And to finally do it on a senior stage is just an incredible feeling, I don’t know how to react to be honest.
“I breathe to my right, so going back into the last 25 I knew I was in a good position, but I had no idea I was in that position.
“I couldn’t see the boys that last 25, I just put the head down and just went for it.”
Elsewhere, Ellen Walshe finished seventh in the women’s 100m individual medley final.
Swimming out of lane two, the 24-year-old was up against it with the leading lights taking it out hard.
The formidable Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands took gold in a European record time of 56.26, with Beligium’s Roos Vanotterdijk second and Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel taking bronze.
Walshe posted a time of 58.62, slower than her semi-final, and over two seconds down on Steenbergen.
The 24-year-old took the decision to sacrifice the 100m butterfly semi-finals after winning her heat this morning as it was scheduled an hour and a half after her individual medley final.
The Templeogue woman has a busy schedule over the coming days as she is also tackling the 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.
Ellie McCartney set a national record to win her semi-final in the women’s 200m breaststroke 2:18.81, beating her personal best by over a second in a fantastic performance.
The Enniskillen native led throughout and defeated Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk by 1.09 seconds.
She will take her place in the final on Friday at 7.12pm.
Fresh from winning gold in the men’s 200m backstroke on Wednesday night, John Shortt set a new Irish record as he qualified for the final of the 100m backstroke.
The Galway man touched the wall in fourth in a time of 50.16, breaking the record that had stood since 2020.
In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Eoin Corby also qualified for the semis after finishing seventh in his heat.
Taking part in the penultimate heat which featured seeded competitors, the Limerick swimmer’s 2:06.47 was the 17th fastest time and proved just enough to squeeze through to the next round which is scheduled for 6.42pm Irish time.
“I’ve never seen so many 2:05s in any European heats in my life,” he said. “
“It’s extremely fast heats. It’s all about quick morning swims here, so I’m happy with that.
“But I think I’ve a lot more in me, so hopefully I can produce something a bit quicker tonight because it’s incredibly close and even if I improved by a second, I’m pretty sure that puts me in third or something, so it’s very stupidly quick here.”
However, Jack Cassin narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the men’s 100m butterfly with his 51.49 just 0.14 outside the final qualification place. Lisburn swimmer Matthew Hamilton also did not advance after a third-placed finish in his heat in 52.60.
Watch the action from Lublin live on Eurovision Sport.