Daniel Wiffen has missed out on a second gold medal in Paris as he took bronze in the 1500m men’s freestyle.
Wiffen, who earlier this week became the first athlete from Northern Ireland to secure an Olympic gold medal in nearly four decades, narrowly missed out on the top medal as Team USA’s Bobby Finke took gold with Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri taking silver.
Wiffen was widely reported as the favourite in the race having previously posted a time of 14:40.34 in the 1500m freestyle heats – just two seconds quicker than Paltrinieri, who the Co Armagh man beat to take gold in the 800m.
Team USA’s Finke broke the world record previously held by China’s Sun Yang who swam a 14:31.02 set at the 2012 Olympics.
On Saturday, the gold medalist said despite already winning gold in the 800m, the 1500 freestyle was his “aspiration”.
“I really want this 1500 gold. I came into the meet and that was my aspiration, the 800 I wasn´t really thinking about too much because I love the 1500,” he said.
“But coming into the 1500 now I have to find different ways to motivate myself and different ways to go fast. That´s exactly what I´m going to do tomorrow (Sunday) night,” he said.