World Championships: Daniel Wiffen “Willing To Push Himself To The Limit” In Pursuit Of 800 Free World Record
Zhang Lin’s 800 free world record has stood since July 2009 and it is, says, Daniel Wiffen, “definitely the hardest to break” while vowing to do whatever it takes to do just that.
Zhang qualified sixth for the 800 final at the World Championships in Rome at the height of the supersuit era, clocking 7:48.79 in prelims with Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia leading the way in 7:41.82.
Grant Hackett – Photo Courtesy: Swimming Australia
Grant Hackett’s world record of 7:38.65 had stood since the 2005 worlds in Montreal, Canada, but Zhang – swimming out in lane seven – consigned that mark to history in brutal fashion, stopping the clock at 7:32.12. Mellouli also went inside the previous WR in 7:35.27 for silver with Ryan Cochrane third in 7:41.92.
Zhang negative split the race as he went out in 3:46.79 and came home in 3:45.33 with a final 100 of 28.10/25.99 (54.09) steering him home, one of 43 world records set at the Foro Italico.
Zhang and Mellouli’s times have occupied the top two slots in the rankings ever since with Ahmed Hafnaoui coming closest with a 7:37.00 victory at the 2023 worlds. The Tunisian is currently serving a 21-month ban for whereabouts violations having missed three drugs tests over 12 months.
Sam Short is fourth all-time with 7:37.76 followed by Sven Schwarz’s European record of 7:38.12 at the German Championships in May and Wiffen’s 7:38.19 en-route to the Olympic title in 7:38.19. The fact that Hackett’s 2005 then-WR is still the eighth-fastest performance in history is a measure of the magnitude of his performance 20 years ago.
Zhang’s WR is the second-oldest men’s individual standard, with Paul Biedermann’s 1:42.00 in the 200 free one day older.
World Aquatics describe it as “untouchable” in their film of the race and while Wiffen acknowledges it represents a monumental challenge, he disputes that it is out of reach.
He told Swimming World: “I would say that the 800m world record isn’t untouchable and for me to break it I would just reverse his 400s, so 3:45-3:46.
“I think that this world record is definitely the hardest to break but I believe that all world records will be broken and I’m willing to push myself to that limit to get it. In terms of the last 100/50 I think I would look to be a bit ahead of the world record line just to give a little bit of leeway.”
Wiffen Expects Different Racing Approach & Eyes Sub-14:30
Daniel Wiffen: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
Wiffen arrives in Singapore as the reigning world champion in the 800 and 1500 as he became the fourth man to complete the distance double.
He was the first Irish swimmer to win a swimming world title when he won the 800 in 7:40.74 before going on to dominate the longer race in 14:34.07 which stands as the eighth swiftest all-time. Wiffen also finished seventh in the 400 in 3:46.65.
Months later he headed to Paris where he held off the trademark late charge of Bobby Finke to win the 800 title before bronze in the longer race where the American took down Sun Yang’s WR in 14:30.67, 12 years to the day since the Chinese swimmer set the standard at London 2012.
Wiffen also competed in the open water, finishing 18th after a “violent” race in the River Seine that left him battered and a little bruised but with no regrets.
The 24-year-old is entered in the 400, 800 and 1500 in Singapore with season’s bests of 3:46.87, 7:41.52 and 14:42.71. The 2025 rankings are dominated by the Magdeburg powerhouse with Lukas Märtens taking down Biedermann’s 400 free WR in 3:439.96, Schwarz’ European standard in the 800 free and Florian Wellbrock posting 14:36.25 in the 15. All three men are coached by Bernd Berkhahn with Wellbrock already having added four gold medals to his armoury in the 10k, 5k, 3k knockout sprint and the team relay with Germany in Singapore.
Wiffen told Swimming World in 2023 that he believed people were changing their approach to the distance races to be faster in the final stages because of Finke and his customary late charge through the field.
Time moves on quickly though and Wiffen feels things may change once more at the upcoming worlds as a new shoal of swimmers push for the podium.
Daniel Wiffen: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia
He said:
“I think Bobby did change how people raced the distance events in the past but I think moving in to Singapore there is a lot of new fast distance swimmers who are pushing to win their first world champs medal. So in my opinion I think we could see some very different racing from previous world championships.
“But this overall distance age is the reason why so many people are going fast and pushing world records because there are so many people trying to push towards it and it makes you push harder when it becomes a big race just to make it out of heats.”
Singapore represents Wiffen’s final meet working with Andi Manley who coached the swimmer to Olympic and world titles. He announced in June that the partnership was set to come to an end following worlds with the swimmer training in Dublin and with brother Nathan at Cal-Berkeley.
As for Wiffen’s own objectives, he reiterated what he’d told Swimming World late last year and his intention to go sub-14:30 in the 1500 which would see him inside Finke’s WR.
“Yes, I’ll always aim for the world record as that’s what it takes to win!”
