An out-of-sorts Daniel Wiffen laboured his way to a place in the final of the 800m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore on Tuesday morning.
Wiffen, who is recovering from appendicitis, clocked seven minutes 46.36 seconds to finish fifth in his heat and had a nerve-wracking wait to see if he would progress.
With the final heat results confirmed, the Olympic 800m freestyle champion progressed in eighth overall and will have an outside lane for Wednesday’s final, where he will look to defend the title he won at the Worlds in Doha in 2024.
Wiffen said after the race: “Obviously pretty disappointed with the overall swim of the 800, but we’ve got a lane so we’ve got a chance to defend my title and I’m going in with that mindset that I can win this still, even though I’m eighth in.
“I just feel really weak at the moment. I felt it in the 400 and then I felt it in the 800 free, so something’s going wrong, I just need to figure out what it is and then change it for tomorrow night’s final.”
In the 200m butterfly, National Centre Limerick’s Jack Cassin swam a personal best of 1:57.04 to finish eighth in his heat but missed out on a place in the semi-finals.
There will be no Irish swimmers in action in the evening session, but Ellen Walshe, Danielle Hill and Evan Bailey will take to the blocks on Wednesday in Singapore.
