Daniel Wiffen staged a storming final stretch in the men's 800m freestyle final to clinch gold at Paris 2024 in an Olympic record time.
Second going into the final 150m of the race, Wiffen reeled in Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri before triumphing in a time of 7:38.19.
The Armagh man's success marks a second medal in the pool in as many days for Ireland at Paris 2024 following Mona McSharry's bronze medal feat the previous night at the La Defense Arena in the west of the French capital.
Having been presented with his gold medal, an emotional Wiffen told RTÉ Sport how special it is to hear Amhran Na bhFiann once again. "I ain't much of a crier, I shed a lot of tears there. You never really see me cry, so it’s a big achievement for that! It’s amazing, I love hearing the national anthem," he said.
"I think I’ve heard it more times in my life now than a lot of people. This is my sixth time this season hearing it, so it’s kind of crazy. I’m just so happy."
Wiffen, whose first Olympic appearance came at the delayed Tokyo Games, arrived in Paris as a genuine medal contender, fresh from having won both the 800m and 1500m titles at February's World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
Despite the successes there, the 23-year-old had targeted improvements including with his breathing technique, telling RTÉ Sport earlier this month that, "you're going to see a new Daniel Wiffen in Paris".
But five months ago, rivals such as USA's Robert Finke and Australia's Samuel Short had sat out the Worlds.
However, with Short falling just short of the top eight in Monday's heats, only Finke had qualifed for Tuesday's final of that duo and in a time almost a second and a half behind Wiffen's 7:41.53 high-water qualifying mark.
Starting Tuesday night's final in lane four between Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieria and Tunisian Ahmed Joauadi, Wiffen was third after the first 50m, with Australia's Elijah Winnington taking the early lead through the first 200.
By the 300m-mark, Wiffen had moved up to second, within a second of Winnington, before he took the lead at the halfway point of the race with Finke second and Winnington moving down to third.
With 150m to go, Wiffen found himself narrowly off the lead just behind Italy's Paltrinieri but he saved his best until last as he surged into the lead with Finke also moving forward into the silver medal position.
But the American could not catch Wiffen and he delivered the 12th ever Olympic gold medal for Ireland.
He was ecstatic when he spoke to RTÉ Sport immediately afterwards.
"It's amazing. What's my name? Daniel Wiffen, Olympic champion. It's really good, I can't believe it.
"I want to thank my brother Nathan, my parents, my whole coaching staff in Loughborough University and Team Ireland. I couldn't have done it without anybody. I'm not alone out there. It was such a good effort," he said, before detailing the dramatic closing stages.
"I'm not gonna lie, I was looking for Bobby Finke the whole time... I was 'I can't get caught last 50m. I've been training all f***ing year for this. I will not get caught last 50!'
"I kept looking over and looking over and I saw I got by him and I knew it was over, I had won," he added, before reflecting on an Olympic record.
"Pretty crazy. Another title in the book. Now I can say I am one of the best ever."
Wiffen later spoke of his joy that his family - including his twin brother, Nathan - were poolside to witness his stunning victory. "I heard Nathan when I walked out, which is kind of incredible. There's 25,000 people here and I hear my own twin," he said. "Seeing my family makes it so much better and it’s even better to do it in front of them. Every time they turn up, I seem to do well, so maybe they need to turn up a bit more!
"Nathan has really done a lot for me this season. He finished his season in Europeans coming fourth. He did miss out on the Olympic Games, I’m sure it was very hard for him – but to make it up to him, I got Olympic gold.
"He’s been such a big help, he’s been training with me all the way along the pre-camp, he’s been calling me fives times a day, making sure I’m in the right mindset.
"We both knew I was going to win, it was just showing everybody else."
Wiffen will next tackle the men's 1500m with the heats on Saturday, while he has also stated his intention to participate in the open water 10km marathon provided it takes place in the River Seine.
Watch the 2024 Olympic Games with 14 hours of televised action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player each day. Listen to extensive radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 and 2fm's Game On and follow each moment from Paris on RTÉ.ie, the RTÉ News app and all RTÉ digital platforms. Listen to the daily RTÉ Sport Olympics Podcast.
