Nathan Wiffen secures place in final at Europeans

Nathan Wiffen advanced to the 800m freestyle final at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade after clocking a new personal best of seven minutes 54.60 seconds.

Wiffen has made rapid improvement since shifting his focus to distance freestyle events after witnessing the exploits of his identical twin Daniel in recent years.

The Loughborough swimmer knocked nine hundredths of a second off his previous lifetime best to qualify as the sixth fastest overall.

The 22-year-old, who will contest Wednesday evening’s final said: “I’m feeling very good. Not going to lie, it was tough with the heat coming out because the last call room is outside, so everyone is trying to find the shade.

“I’m pretty happy with that, I got a personal best and into the final. The first aim is to make the final, and as they say if you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance, so hopefully a medal.”

For a second consecutive day, an Irish relay team did enough to make it back for a final. This time it was the mixed 4x100m medley relay, featuring Lottie Cullen in backstroke, Eoin Corby in breaststroke, Jack Cassin in butterfly and Ellie McCartney in freestyle, who combined for a time of 3:56.11 to finish as the eighth fastest team.

John Shortt reached the semi-finals of the 200m backstroke after recording a time of 1:59.15, with Shane Ryan also safely through to the semis of the 100m freestyle in 48.69. However, Oisin Tebite’s time of 52.22 in the 100m freestyle wasn’t fast enough for him to progress.

Niamh Coyne and Ellie McCartney took to the blocks for the 100m breaststroke heats, with Coyne clocking 1:09.06 to make the semi and McCartney exiting the event after registering a time of 1:09.53.

Clare Cryan is through to the final of the 1m Springboard after a total of 205.85 points from five rounds saw her finish eleventh.