Paris 2024: Daniel Wiffen surges to gold in 800m final

Daniel Wiffen staged a storming final stretch in the men's 800m freestyle final to clinch gold at Paris 2024 in an Olympic record time.

Second going into the final 150m of the race, Wiffen reeled in Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri before triumphing in a time of 7:38.19.

The Armagh man's success marks a second medal in the pool in as many days for Ireland at Paris 2024 following Mona McSharry's bronze medal feat the previous night at the La Defense Arena in the west of the French capital.

Having been presented with his gold medal, an emotional Wiffen told RTÉ Sport how special it is to hear Amhran Na bhFiann once again. "I ain't much of a crier, I shed a lot of tears there. You never really see me cry, so it’s a big achievement for that! It’s amazing, I love hearing the national anthem," he said.

"I think I’ve heard it more times in my life now than a lot of people. This is my sixth time this season hearing it, so it’s kind of crazy. I’m just so happy."

Wiffen, whose first Olympic appearance came at the delayed Tokyo Games, arrived in Paris as a genuine medal contender, fresh from having won both the 800m and 1500m titles at February's World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

Despite the successes there, the 23-year-old had targeted improvements including with his breathing technique, telling RTÉ Sport earlier this month that, "you're going to see a new Daniel Wiffen in Paris".

But five months ago, rivals such as USA's Robert Finke and Australia's Samuel Short had sat out the Worlds.

However, with Short falling just short of the top eight in Monday's heats, only Finke had qualifed for Tuesday's final of that duo and in a time almost a second and a half behind Wiffen's 7:41.53 high-water qualifying mark.

Starting Tuesday night's final in