Daniel Wiffen secured the gold medal at the European Aquatic Championships in the 400m freestyle at the short course event in Romania.
And the Magheralin man did it in record time as he broke the Irish standard following an excellent outing at the Olympic Complex Otopeni.
Wiffen smashed the national record in a time of 3:35.47 to bag Ireland's first gold medal at this year's event, and the first ever European short course gold for the nation.
𝗪𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗜𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱'𝘀 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧-𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗖 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱 👏
— European Aquatics (@LENaquatics) December 5, 2023
🇮🇪 @WiffenDaniel tops the podium to claim European SC gold in the Men's 400m Free with a time of 3:35.47!
Watch #LENOtopeni2023 now ▶️ https://t.co/c7UyOFwyui pic.twitter.com/HNjvNtmpI3
The European record holder in the 800m Freestyle put on a dominant display, staying with the pack for the first 200 metres of the race before securing a lead which was never relinquished.
And there was more medal success for Ireland as Templeogue's Ellen Walshe took bronze in the 400m individual medley in a time of 4:29.64.
"I want to start by saying well done to Ellen, she was class, she inspired me to go and get a gold then," Wiffen said afterwards.
"That race was amazing to be part of, I got to the 200 and everyone was close together and I thought I'm going to go now or never, so I just went, and it worked out.
"It just felt amazing."
Wiffen returns to the pool tomorrow for the heats of the 1500m Freestyle.
Reflecting on her bronze, Walshe said: "It's great, I can be a little hurt that I was faster than that previously but where I’m at in my training, heading into Paris, a European medal is a European medal, so I’m delighted."
Elsewhere, Shane Ryan has advanced to the final of the 50m backstroke; his time of 23.19 seconds was sixth fastest in the semi-finals.
There was bad luck for sprinter Danielle Hill who broke the 50m Irish freestyle record for the second time today, however, her time of 24.16 was not quick enough to secure safe passage into the final as she just missed out, clocking the ninth fastest time in the semis.
Max McCusker clocked 51.46 to finish in 13th place overall in the 100m butterfly semi-finals. He returns to the pool on Friday for the 50m butterfly heats.
