Swimming: Daniel Wiffen claims historic gold
The Magheralin man has become Ireland's first-ever long course champion
Daniel Wiffen is a World Champion!
The 22-year-old from Magheralin took gold in the 800-metres freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha this afternoon
Wiffen won in a time of 7:40.94, to become Ireland's first-ever long-course champion.
He was just over a second outside his own national best, but touched the wall two seconds quicker than silver medal winner Elijah Winnington.
Italy’s Gregorio Peltrinieri took bronze.
Earlier today, Shane Ryan and Maria Godden failed to progress from their heats of the 100-metre freestyle and 50-metre backstroke respectively.
The Loughborough University student now turns his attention to securing further success in the 1500m freestyle event, with the heats beginning on Saturday.
Wiffen had finished fourth in both the 800m and 1500m events at the most recent World Championships last July, setting a European record of 7:39.19 in the 800m final.
However, he made his way to Qatar with high hopes of a medal after claiming short-course 400m, 800m and 1500m golds in Romania before Christmas.