First, let's consider the strange anomaly of being the fastest racer in history in any country, in any sport, yet to have yet to win a medal on the world championship stage. Because that's about to change now.
Only one Irishman can win a medal for the first time at the World Aquatics Championships. The long course version is arguably the best non-Olympic swimming competition. Just as there is only one Irish first world record holder in swimming, we already know that his name is Daniel Wiffen.
It's been exactly two months since Wiffen, 22, won her third gold medal this week in the 800m freestyle, breaking her only world record at the European Short Course Championships outside Bucharest.
Wiffen's winning time was 7 minutes 20.46 seconds, shaving three seconds off the previous record set by Australia's Grant Hackett. This is the longest record in swimming history, and is an extraordinary world record considering that it belongs to Hackett, who has won seven Olympic medals (including three gold medals) since July 2008. isn't it.
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Hackett also wore an early version of the shiny full-body swimsuit before it was banned in early 2010, given its obvious advantages in watery wakes. It's no wonder the Australian was one of the first to congratulate the young man from Magherarin, a small village in Co Armagh.
“Ever since I was young, my goal has been to break the world record,” Wiffen said of the feat, which he celebrated with a few slices of pizza back at the Ireland team hotel. “I've always loved swimming and I've watched everything since I was 12 or 13 years old and always looked up to the world record holders. They're obviously the fastest people ever, and that's what I wanted to become. Because it's what I wanted.
“Probably when I was younger it was very unrealistic. If you ask the Irish pathway coaches, they didn't even tell me I could make it nationally when I was younger, but they told me There was just determination.”
As the spotlight now turns to Doha's pool for the 21st World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Wiffen joins Mona McSharry in another race that will make Irish sporting history. We are aiming to go where no Irish swimmer has ever reached before. The next 8 days.
There has been such a change in Irish swimming psychology and it would be a shame if one or both of them failed to win a medal. Maybe even more than that. Both athletes are targeting three events: Wiffen in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, and McSharry in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke.
What is certain is that things have changed in the last 40 years, ever since the late Peter Byrne of this diocese reported a good day for Irish swimmers, with “no one drowning'' in the 1976 Montreal Olympic pool. has already changed significantly. That was harsh.
The truth is that records continue to be repeated at the Olympics and on the world stage, with the unpleasant exception of Michelle Smith de Bruin, who first stood on the Olympic-level podium at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He was the last Irish swimmer at the time and was 26 years old at the time. She won three gold medals and one bronze medal.
[ Daniel Wiffen becomes first Irishman to break swimming world record ]
[ Mona McSharry: ‘I’d come to the conclusion that I hated swimming’ ]
Two years later, De Bruin was suspended for four years for tampering with doping samples and never swam competitively again.
There were other moments of hope before and after that. Gary O'Toole won silver in the 200m breaststroke at the European Championships in 1989, and Shane Ryan won bronze in the 50m backstroke at the 2018 World Short Course Championships.
And a more recent paradigm shift was the Sligo swimmer who reached the 100m breaststroke final at the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 20, the first Irish swimmer to reach that stage since De Bruin, and then It was a paradigm shift. A year later, she won a bronze medal at the World Short Course Championships to be held in Abu Dhabi in December 2021.
So off to Doha. Due to the hold-up of the World Championships (due to COVID-19), the event is entering its first Olympic year, and the popular website Swimswam has already called it “the strangest World Championships in generations”. It is declared that. With just over five months left until the Paris Olympics, we would like to introduce the profiles of swimmers who will not be participating there.
“This Doha event will be watched everywhere, in terms of who will rest, who will finish training and who will compete. We're going to have players that we've never played before.”
Most of America's top swimmers, including Katie Ledecky, who surpassed Michael Phelps' record and won her 16th individual gold medal at last summer's World Championships in Fukuoka, are preparing for the Olympic trials in June. Because of this, I am on standby at home.
Wiffen and McSharry both came close to winning medals at the Fukuoka Games, but McSharry's frenetic finish in the 100m breaststroke relegated him from second to fifth place, leaving him just 0.13 seconds behind the bronze medal and ahead of the four. Although finishing second to the Olympic champion, Wiffen finished fourth in both events. 800m and 1,500m freestyle.
The absence of some top names makes the quest for medals somewhat easier this time around, but it's not entirely easy. McSharry is ranked second in the 100m breaststroke behind Lithuania's Ruta Meilutite, who won gold at the Fukuoka Games. Tatiana Schoenmaker of South Africa, who won the silver medal, and Lydia Jacoby of the United States, who won the bronze medal, will not compete.
If I can replicate in 8 days what I did in 6 days, I think I can compete in all 3 days.
— Daniel Wiffen
Wiffen is ranked second in the 800m and third in the 1,500m, behind Ahmed Hafnaoui, a 21-year-old from Tunisia who won twice in Fukuoka in both events. Wiffen was only ninth behind Hafnawi in Sunday's first event, the 400m, which is the event with the most room for improvement.
“Before, I was concentrating on two out of three, but at the European Championships I was able to focus on all three and win three gold medals,” Wiffen said. “That was only a six-day tournament, but the World Champions are eight days, so you have more time to recover.
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“If we can replicate in eight days what we did in six days, I think we can be competitive on all three days.”
Wiffen doesn't have to worry about American Robert (Bobby) Finke or Australian Sam Short, who took the other two podiums in both the 800m and 1,500m in Fukuoka.
What is certain is that Wiffen and McSharley have been on a mostly upward trajectory since Tokyo. Wiffen is part of an elite training group at Loughborough University, while McSharry is in his final year at the University of Tennessee.
“It's still going to be very competitive,” McSharry said of Doha. “But it won't have as much depth as you'll see at the Olympics, which will be good. It gives me the opportunity to race fast, get a good middle lane and experience all of that.”
And for both Whiffen and McSharry, it would not be unrealistic to experience a medal podium at the World Aquatics Championships in an Olympic year, and the rest is Irish sporting history.
Paris qualifying times are the main goal for the remaining 13-strong Irish swimming team, with the men's 400m medley relay and women's 400m freestyle relay also looking to qualify for the Olympics.
Doha final schedule (if Wiffen and McSharry advance)
Sunday: Men's 400m freestyle
Tuesday: Women's 100m breaststroke
Wednesday: Men's 800m freestyle
Friday: Women's 200m breaststroke
Sunday: Women's 50m breaststroke.Men's 1500 Freestyle
Irish Swimming Team in Doha
(Event/Personal best)
Victoria Catterson: 100m freestyle/55.56; 200m freestyle/1:59.74
Eoin Corby: 200m breaststroke/2:12.24
Thomas Fannon: 50m freestyle/21.95
Conor Ferguson: 50m backstroke/24.95; 100m backstroke/54.01
Maria Gauden: 50m backstroke/28.98; 100m backstroke/1:01.32; 200m backstroke/2:12.19
Darragh Green: 50m breaststroke/27.54; 100m breaststroke/1:00.39
Max McCusker: 100m butterfly/52.96
Mona McSharry: 50m breaststroke/30.29; 100m breaststroke/1:05.55; 200m breaststroke/2:25.49
Erin Riordan: 50m freestyle/25.53
Shane Ryan: 100m freestyle/49.04; 50m butterfly/23.77
John Short: 200m backstroke/1:58.63
Daniel Wiffen: 400m freestyle/3:44.35; 800m freestyle/7:39.19. 1500m freestyle/14:34.91
Grace Davison: 400m freestyle relay
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