Wiffen reaches final, McSharry and Ferguson progress

Daniel Wiffen progressed to the final of the 1500m freestyle final, while both Conor Ferguson and Mona McSharry moved through to their semi-finals as the Irish swimmers enjoyed a successful morning on the penultimate day of racing at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Wiffen, who set a new European record while finishing fourth in the final of the 800m on Wednesday, finished second in his heat in a time of 14:43.50. The Down swimmer led for most of the race only to be edged out by America's Bobby Finke.

The Irish Olympian will now compete in tomorrow's final, where his personal best of 14:34.91 marks him out as fifth fastest in the field.

"I think I'm still going with my aspirations of hitting that World Record (14:31.01), need to get out now, get some recovery done for tomorrow night, 36 hours, get that done and have a good final," Wiffen said afterwards.

"It hurt a little, but I’m holding back still, so still that bit left."

Conor Ferguson, meanwhile, progressed to his first ever World semi-final, after placing fifth in his heat in the 50m backstroke, good enough to finish 11th overall across all races. He clocked a time of 24.95.

The Belfast swimmer was making amends for his disappointment in the 100m backstroke where he failed to progress through his heat.

Mona McSharry is also into another semi-final, this time in the 50m backstroke, finishing 12th best across the heats in a time of 30.45.

The Sligo women has already finished fifth in the final of the 100m breaststroke and is targeting a time under 30 seconds in her final, her personal best over the short distance clocking at 30.29.

McSharry and Ferguson are out in their semi-finals this afternoon, at 12.26pm and 1.06pm (both Irish time) respectively.

Earlie