Ireland's Daniel Wiffen has claimed that the 10-kilometre open-water swim in the River Seine this morning at the Paris Olympics will be his first and last.
Wiffen finished in 18th place with a time of 1:57:20.1. The winner of the event was Hungarian Kristóf Rasovszky, who swam the distance in 1:50:52.7.
The Down native Wiffen has become a household name back in Ireland and Northern Ireland for his phenomenal Olympic Games in Paris. A gold medal in the freestyle 800m swimming event, followed by a bronze in the 1500m event, saw the 23-year-old end his games with the 10k swim this morning.
When asked if he’d do it again, Wiffen said on Friday morning that it would be the “first and last.” He then went on to say, “It was the worst and the best thing I’ve ever done. If I were to do it again, I would only do it in Ireland. I would do it with my brother Nathan, and I think the Liffey Swim would be quite cool to do.”
“I’m never doing it again…”
Daniel Wiffen absolutely delighted he finished the 10km marathon swim in the Seine and announces his retirement from ‘open water’ ☘️
pic.twitter.com/QIap4fIQ5W— Daniel Hussey (@DanielHussey2) August 9, 2024
“It was the most painful thing. The start was pretty bad; I got punched in the stomach and think I pulled my groyne halfway through, and in terms of the last lap, I was absolutely dead.
“I knew I was never in it from the start. I was hoping not to come last. I could see all the splashes 50 metres ahead of me. On lap three, I was leading the chasing group, and nobody else decided they wanted to push it except me. And then I decided it was over.”
Wiffen also admitted he was happy to actually not come last in the event.
“I need to rewatch the finish,” he added. “I actually knew I was never in it from the start, because you can see. I was just hoping not to come last; to be honest, by the end, I’m happy I didn’t.”
