Daniel Wiffen clocks third fastest 1500m freestyle ever at European Short Course Championships

On Thursday, Daniel Wiffen claimed his second European Short Course Championships win, and he did it in style. The Irishman clocked a personal best of 14:09.11 in the 1500m freestyle, finishing over 12 seconds ahead of David Aubry, who bagged the silver medal.

With this race, Wiffen has cemented his name into the record books, setting a new Irish senior best and the third-fastest time in history. When he started the race, Wiffen was on track to crack Florian Wellbrock's world record of 14:06.88 that the German had set two years ago at the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships.

Still within striking distance of the world record at the halfway mark, the 22-year-old eventually slowed down in the last 500m but had already established a generous lead for himself by then.

Speaking to the media after his record-breaking race Wiffen stated that he was happy to have put Ireland on the map with this victory.

"It was great. Ireland had never won a gold at a major international before and now we have two. I mean, I thought I was going to go faster, I can't lie. I got to the 1000m mark and I was really feeling it, but a five-second personal best, you can't complain", he said, via BBC.

He went on to acknowledge the support from his country, saying:

"It's amazing. It's great the support I get from Ireland and I'm just happy that they can cheer me on like that and I win for them."

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Daniel Wiffen at the European Short Course Championships

Daniel Wiffen has had a busy time at the European Short Course Championships in Romania. On Tuesday, a couple of days before he clocked a 14:09.11 in the men's 1500m freestyle, Wiffen raced to a gold in the 400m freestyle. That victory marked Ireland's first-ever European Short Course Championships gold.

On his way to the top of the podium, the Irishman set a new personal and national record in the 400m as well, finishing with a time of 3:35.47. His time put him more than two seconds ahead of Lithuania's Danas Rapsys and Belgium's Lucas Henveaux, who finished second and third, respectively.

Daniel Wiffen will now have a day off before he gets back to action in the men's 800m freestyle this weekend, where he will attempt to complete a treble. He remains the favorite to win the race but the likes of Norway's Henrik Christiansen and Sweden's Victor Johansson won't make life easy for him.