Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen was unable to secure a medal in the men's 400m freestyle final at the Commonwealth Games, finishing in fifth place at the Tollcross Swimming Centre. Wiffen, who famously won Olympic gold in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1500m in Paris two years ago, qualified for the final after placing third in his heat for what he considers his least favoured distance.
The 25-year-old started strongly, appearing to be on course for a bronze medal, but faded in the final 50 metres, recording a time of 3:47.22. Reflecting on the race, Wiffen told BBC Sport NI, "We always knew Sam [Short, the race winner] would be really good in this; he almost broke the world record a few weeks ago, so in my eyes, it was a race to come second and I've never experienced a pool that wavy." He added, "I'm behind the two people that are fastest out and I'm the slowest out, I'm just getting hit in the face by the waves so for me it got to a point where I was just trying to find a way to get back in the race."
Wiffen's team-mate, Olympic relay gold medallist Jack McMillan, finished seventh in the same final with a time of 3:49.18. Despite the disappointment in the 400m, Wiffen remains optimistic about his prospects for a first Commonwealth Games gold medal. He secured silver in 2022 and will have another opportunity when he competes in the men's 800m fastest heats at 20:37 BST on Monday, where he is set to face Australia's Sam Short once more. "It's going to be a good race and I'm going to be ready for it," Wiffen stated.
In other swimming events, Lottie Cullen advanced to Sunday's final of the women's 100m backstroke, qualifying as the fourth fastest in her heat with a time of 1:00.82. However, her team-mates Danielle Hill (1:00.83) and Grace Davison (1:01.20) both missed out on qualifying for the final in their respective semi-finals. Matthew Hamilton set a new Irish junior record in the men's 100m butterfly, finishing fifth in his heat with a time of 52.62, surpassing Evan Bailey's previous record of 53.39, though he did not progress to the semi-finals. Ellie McCartney also missed out on the 100m breaststroke final, placing fourth in her semi-final with a time of 1:08.63.