Magheralin’s Daniel Wiffen won his qualifying heat with an impressive time of 7:41:53 to book his place in the 800m Freestyle Final.
The Irish athlete set the fastest time across all four heats, securing his status as one of the favourites to win the gold medal.
In his heat, the Australian duo of Elijah Winnington and Sam Short raced into the lead only for Wiffen to hunt them down over the course of the 16-length race.
Wiffen won the race from fellow qualifier Winnington by over a second. Wiffen and Warrington will be joined in Tuesday night’s final (8pm) by Tunisa’s Ahmed Jaoiadi, Italians Luca De Tullio and Gergorio Paltrinieri, American Olympic champion Bobby Finke, Germany’s Sven Schwarz and France’s David Aubry.
Earlier on Monday morning, Larne Swimming Club star Danielle Hill squeezed into the Semi-Final of 100m Backstroke with a time of 100.40 after finishing fourth in her heat. The Semi-Final will be staged at 8pm on Monday night.