Wiffen leads 12-strong Ireland team for Worlds

Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen will headline Ireland's challenge at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore in July.The Magheralin swimmer will bid to defend the 800m and 1500m freestyle world titles he won in Doha in 2024.Wiffen spearheads a 12-strong Irish team that also includes women's 100m breaststroke Paris bronze medallist Mona McSharry.Last year's European champion Danielle Hill and former Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist Ellie McCartney are the other two athletes from Northern Ireland named in the squad.Olympic 800m freestyle champion Wiffen, who is currently finalising his preparations at a training camp in Arizona, is expected to add the 400m freestyle to his programme as well.The 23 year-old won the Irish National titles in all three events in April.The World Aquatics Championships take place from 11 July to 3 August.
McCartney to make Worlds debut
Also at the Irish Nationals in April, McCartney produced the swim of her career so far to qualify for the World Championships in the 200m breaststroke.The 20-year-old from Enniskillen set a huge personal best and championship record time of 2:24.35. As a junior McCartney had given notice of her potential at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, where she won two golds and a bronze, before winning a bronze at the European Junior Championships later that summer.She also narrowly missed the qualification time for Singapore in the 100m breaststroke as she chased McSharry all the way home in the final in Dublin, losing out by just one-tenth of a second.McSharry has twice finished fifth in the world championship final and will be looking to finally add a world medal to the Olympic bronze.McCartney has also been named in the squad for the European U23 Championships in Slovakia alongside fellow Ulster swimmer Lottie Cullen.Cullen will also compete at the World University Games in Germany while 2024 Paris Olympian Grace Davison will compete in the European Junior Championships in Slovakia.Larne's Danielle Hill has been focusing on improvement in her freestyle this year but will be swimming the 100m backstroke in Singapore.Among those also in the squad are Olympic semi-finalists Ellen Walshe and Tom Fannon. With the announcement last week that high performance director Jon Rudd is moving on to take up a similar role with Saudi Arabia, the squad will be looked after by Swim Ireland head of performance pathways and operations Andrew Reid.Reid will also lead the Northern Ireland team at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

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