19-Yr-Old Daniel Wiffen Clocks LCM 1500 Irish Record

2020 IRISH WINTER MEET

• Thursday, December 17th – Saturday, December 19th
• National Aquatic Centre, Dublin, Ireland
• SCM (25m) for heats; LCM (50m) for finals
• Select Group of Elites Only
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results

Due to coronavirus restrictions, the annual Swim Ireland National Championships have been scaled back to become the 2020 Irish Winter Meet. Several elites are in the water in their final competition of 2020, bringing on the surge of Olympic preparation that’s to come in early 2021.

Through just day 1 of the 4-day affair, Daniel Wiffen fired off a new national record in the men’s 1500m freestyle.

19-year-old Wiffen of Larne produced a time tonight of 15:19.04, with the finals contested in long course meters. As such, his result this evening sliced just over half a second off of the longstanding Irish national record of 15:19.98 that’s been on the books since 2013.

Entering this Irish Winter Meet, Wiffen’s personal best in the LCM 1500 free rested at the 15:39.74 logged at the 2019 World Junior Championships. That result rendered Wiffen in 18th place there in Budapest.

Additional Notes:

• National record holder Danielle Hill took the women’s 50m back in a time of 28.39, winning by nearly a second.
• Shane Ryan hit a solid 50m back outing of 24.91 for the 7th fastest time of the World Championships medalist’s career.
• 19-year-old Niamh Coyne reaped the top spot in the women’s 50m breast in a time of 32.27 as the only swimmer under 33 seconds.
• The men’s 50m breast saw Eoin Corbin produced a time of 27.76, crushing his own previous Irish Junior Record of 28.33 from January of this year.