Daniel Wiffen has won a gold medal in the men’s 1500m freestyle at the European Short Course Championships in Poland.
Wiffen battled with Hungarian Zalan Sarkany throughout the race, rarely overtaking him, with a close finish inevitable.
However, the Irishman eventually got on top in the final three lengths to win in a time of 14:13.96, over a second and a half ahead of Sarkany.
Germany’s Florian Wellbrock took bronze.
There was another medal for Ireland as Evan Bailey placed equal third in the men’s 200m freestyle event.
Bailey posted a national record on Wednesday evening to advance to the final, and managed to swim quicker on Thursday, clocking 1:41.48 to take over half a second off the previous record to take bronze.
Kamil Sieradadzki of Poland posted the same time with judges unable to separate them.
Belfast-born Jack McMillan took the silver for Great Britain in 1:40.94 with team-mate Scott Duncan touching first to take gold in 1:40.54.
Ellen Walshe had been looking to add to the European short course bronze she won in the 400m individual medley in 2023
Elsewhere, Ellen Walshe finished seventh in the women’s 100m individual medley final.
Swimming out of lane two, the 24-year-old was up against it with the leading lights taking it out hard.
The formidable Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands took gold in a European record time of 56.26, with Beligium’s Roos Vanotterdijk second and Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel taking bronze.
Walshe posted a time of 58.62, slower than her semi-final, and over two seconds down on Steenbergen.
The 24-year-old took the decision to sacrifice the 100m butterfly semi-finals after winning her heat this morning as it was scheduled an hour and a half after her individual medley final.
The Templeogue woman has a busy schedule over the coming days as she is also tackling the 200m individual medley, 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.
Ellie McCartney set a national record to win her semi-final in the women’s 200m breaststroke 2:18.81, beating her personal best by over a second in a fantastic performance.
The Enniskillen native led throughout and defeated Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk by 1.09 seconds.
She will take her place in the final on Friday at 7.12pm.
John Shortt was back in action after a golden performance the night before
Fresh from winning gold in the men’s 200m backstroke on Wednesday night, John Shortt set a new Irish record as he qualified for the final of the 100m backstroke.
The Galway man touched the wall in fourth in a time of 50.16, breaking the record that had stood since 2020.
In the men’s 200 breaststroke, Eoin Corby also qualified for the semis after finishing seventh in his heat.
Taking part in the penultimate heat which featured seeded competitors, the Limerick swimmer’s 2:06.47 was the 17th fastest time and proved just enough to squeeze through to the next round which is scheduled for 6.42pm Irish time.
“I’ve never seen so many 2:05s in any European heats in my life,” he said. “
It’s extremely fast heats. It’s all about quick morning swims here, so I’m happy with that, but I think I’ve a lot more in me, so hopefully I can produce something a bit quicker tonight because it’s incredibly close and even if I improved by a second, I’m pretty sure that puts me in third or something, so it’s very stupidly quick here.”
However, Jack Cassin narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the men’s 100m butterfly with his 51.49 just 0.14 outside the final qualification place. Lisburn swimmer Matthew Hamilton also did not advance after a third-placed finish in his heat in 52.60.
Watch the action from Lublin live on Eurovision Sport.