Wiffen leaves it late to win stunning 1500m gold

In a thrilling final at the Polish European Short Course Championships, Daniel Wiffen put in a late-game performance to win the 1500-meter freestyle title.

Wiffen, a swimmer from Ireland, finished the race late in the lead before Zalan Sarkany, who won gold in the 800-meter race at the Paris Olympics.

Duncan Scott, who is only 0.40 seconds ahead of his Great Britain team-mate Jack McMillan, won the gold medal in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final.

Freya Anderson came in fourth place in the women’s 200-meter freestyle final, where GB’s Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands won bronze.

However, the 1500-meter final saw the most impressive run of the day, when Wiffen completed a stunning run in the final 100 meters to overthrow a 1.12 second deficit and defeat Hungary’s Sarkany.

With 50 meters to go, the 24-year-old took the lead for the first time, winning gold by 1.55 seconds over Sarkany, who had 14 minutes and 1396 seconds to go.

I can’t, to be honest, describe how I handled that, Wiffen said.

“I just had enough energy to carry it through to the end, and I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.”

Wiffen, who is from Northern Ireland, has undergone surgery on his appendix in August, and this is his first gold medal.

After finishing third behind former Ireland teammate McMillan in the 400-meter freestyle final on Tuesday, he won his second medal of the championships.

“I’m so happy,” In that race, I experienced a lot of emotions. I wasn’t sure if I could maintain the pace at the beginning because I was feeling really rough.

“I was halfway through the 800-meter gap and knew I had to hammer it in the last 200 meters, but somehow I kept keeping the gap.”

That finish demonstrates everything I’ve been working on.

McMillan, a native of Northern Ireland, finished just behind GB team-mate Scott in the final, adding a silver medal to his 400m gold.

The 25-year-old, who helped Team GB win 4x200m Olympic and World Championship gold alongside Scott, was 0.58 seconds clear of the lead at the 100-meter, so despite his rapid charge in the closing stages, he had to accept a silver medal.

Evan Bailey of Ireland and Kamil Sieradzki of Poland both won bronze, finishing 0.94 seconds ahead of Scott’s 1:40.54.

Following John Shortt’s victory in the 200-meter backstroke race on Wednesday, Wiffen’s victory gave Ireland a second gold medal in Poland.

Ellie McCartney won the first semi-final for Ireland to secure her place in Friday’s final of the women’s 200-meter breaststroke.