Daniel Wiffen qualifies for 400m freestyle final at World Aquatic Championships

Ranked ninth in the event, Wiffen finished third in his heat and fourth overall in 3:45.52 just outside his personal best time of 3:44.35.

“I just went for the chill option, I didn’t want to go too fast, my goal was to try and make the final at this meet, because I’ve never done this before, so I mean that’s what I did and I’m happy,” said Wiffen. The final takes place on Sunday afternoon (4pm).

In December, Wiffen won three gold medals and set a new world record at the European short course championships in Romania.

Though the 400m is not his primary event but he is confident of improving his world ranking over the shorter distance.

“I wasn’t really that rested for Europeans, and I’m fully rested for this, so I’m looking forward to what this week is going to bring. We’ll see if I can push up the ranks a bit in the 400m freestyle final,” said the 22-year-old Armagh swimmer.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s women’s 4x100m freestyle relay team will learn their Olympic fate on Sunday night.

Erin Riordan, Grace Davison, Maria Godden, and Victoria Catterson clocked 3:43.95 in the heats to finish tenth overall.

But an Irish team which included Riordan and Catterson along with Mona McSharry and Danielle Hill have a time of 3:41.75 from the 2023 World championships in Fukuoka which keeps them ranked in the top 16 needed for Olympic qualification.

Their fate now lies with Slovenia, who would take that crucial sixteenth place if they are quicker than 3:41.75 in Sunday night’s final.

Darragh Greene, swimming the 100m breaststroke was 20th overall, after he touched in 1:00.70, just outside the semi-final places.

In the 50m Butterfly heats, Shane Ryan was just off his best of 23.67 clocking 23.83 for 26th place overall. Ryan returns on Wednesday for his main event, the 100m freestyle.

For most of the Irish squad securing qualification for the Paris Olympics will be the primary focus.

With the Olympic Games less than six months away some of the World’s leading swimmers including Katie Ledecky from the United States as well as her teammate Bobby Finke and Sam (Australia) are not participating.

The latter pair were medallists in the 1500m at the World championships in Fukuoka last year. Wiffen finished fourth in the both the 800m and 1500m final in Japan.

He goes into these championships ranked second in the 800m and third in the 1500m.

Ahmed Hafnaoui from Tunisia will start as favourite having won the gold medal in both events the 2023 World championships.

Sligo native Mona McSharry is ranked second in the 100m breaststroke. Ruta Meilutyte, the defending World champion from Lithuania is ranked first.

Doha is the second of three opportunities for Irish swimmers to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the third and final of these being the Irish Olympic trials in May.