Ireland's Daniel Wiffen set a new European record as he finished fourth in the 800m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Japan.
Wiffen swam the race of his life from lane six to clock seven minutes 39.19 seconds in a line-up which included all three of the medallists from the event at Tokyo 2020, with the County Down competitor finishing ahead of silver medallist Gregorio Paltrinieiri of Italy and Ukraine's bronze medallist Mykhailo Romanchuk.
The 6'5" Ahmed Hafnaoui was the tallest man in the blocks at the Marine Messe Fukuoka and the Tunisian proved head and shoulders above his rivals, seeing off Australia's Sam Short and reigning Olympic champion Bobby Finke of the United States in 7:37.00.
Wiffen had already assured himself of a place at Paris 2024 after setting a new Irish record of 7:43.81 in the heats, but the 22-year-old found remarkable improvement in the final to obliterate that mark and eclipse the European record of 7:39.27 set by Paltrinieiri at the Worlds in South Korea in 2019.
An understated Wiffen said afterwards: "It was a good race. I’m really happy with the personal best and really looking forward to the 1500 freestyle later in the week, but that race was great to be part of.
"Missing the podium... you know I came into this, and I just wanted to be better than last year, and I’ve done that by a lot, so I’m happy enough.
"My plan was to try stick with them for as long as possible. I was happy the way I did it, to be honest. I was just on the hip the whole time. My third 200 was probably a bit off and my last 200 was great, so maybe next time I tweak the third 200, but I can’t really complain about my plan."
🇹🇳 Ahmed HAFNAOUI made history for Tunisia 🇹🇳
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 26, 2023
New World Champion in the 800m Freestyle event 👇#AQUAFukuoka23 pic.twitter.com/gjlEF5QWuk
Danielle Hill failed to progress from the semi-finals of the the 50m backstroke, finishing eight in her heat and 13th overall.
Hill clocked 28.03 in the heats, but was unable to match or surpass that time in the semis as she finished a full second behind heat winner and fastest finalist Regan Smith, with the US swimmer recording a time of 27.10.
Shane Ryan finished second in his 100m freestyle heat, but a time of 49.04 placed him 33rd overall as he missed out on a semi-final berth.
The World Aquatics Championships is the first of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to secure individual Olympic places, the second being the World Aquatics Championships in Doha in February 2024, with the third the Irish Open Swimming Championships in May 2024.
