Back-to-back 1500m freestyle champion Daniel Wiffen was back in the pool in Lublin this morning, successfully negotiating the men's 800m freestyle heats at the European Short Course Championships in Poland.
Looking to defend his 800m crown, the Armagh native qualified for the final as the fourth fastest competitor, clocking a time of 7:34.60 in the third heat, finishing second behind Hungary's Zalan Sarkany, who won in 7:33.85.
Johannes Liebmann was the fastest qualifier, setting a new world junior mark in the second heat with a superb 7:30.94 performance. Wiffen is the World Record holder in the event in 7:20.46.
The final will take place on Saturday evening, with Wiffen reporting no after effects from Thursday's heroics.
"Feeling pretty good, I tried to make it as comfortable as possible, it felt really good surprisingly, I thought I'd be holding a bit of fatigue, I’m happy, the time is decent and I’m ready for tomorrow night," he said.
"I’m four-time European champion, and I’ve got a bronze medal now, honestly, I’m just parking it and moving on. I remember the first one, I took all the glory but I’m now here to do a job, and that’s to win the event I came here for.
"I don’t know who made the schedules, but they didn’t favour the distance (swimmers), but I’m ready for tomorrow. I’m excited, I’m the world record holder so it’s good to defend my title. I got to see my name beside the world record on the screen for the first time."
Earlier in the morning session, Ellen Walshe cruised through the women's 200m medley heats, winning the final heat in a time of 2:09.21.
However, she was only sixth fastest overall, with Marrit Steenbergen setting the fastest time in the second heat, winning in 2:08.20.
Dubliner Walshe will swim in lane three of semi-final one this evening.
Speaking after this morning’s heat, Walshe said: "I just wanted to get back into the top 16 and race my own race, in the middle lanes it can be hard, there’s so much going on around you, I just tried to stick to my own plan and get my hand on the wall."
Walshe will join Ellie McCartney (200m breaststroke final) and John Shortt (100m backstroke final) in action in this evening's session.
In the women's 100m heats, Rosalie Phelan finished third in her heat in 54.16 but failed to progress, clocking the 32nd fastest time overall.
There was no joy for the Irish quartet In the men's 100m freestyle heats, with Evan Bailey, Cormac Rynn, Matthew Hamilton and Adam Bradley all failing to advance to the semi-finals.
Bailey won his heat in 47.53 but was 32nd overall, with the top 16 qualifying.
Watch the action from Lublin live on Eurovision Sport.
