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Dan Wiffen Adds BUCs 14:42 To String Of Swift 1500 Efforts Five Days After World Title Epic

Dan Wiffen, the Loughborough-based Irish ace, swam down from his double-world-title triumphs over 800 and 1500m freestyle in Doha last week with a 14:42.05 victory at the British University Championships in Ponds Forge, Sheffield this evening.

Coached by Andi Manley, with Mike Peyrebrune, Wiffen was a class apart in a fastest heat of the 30-lap battle at BUCS that was topped by a Loughborough podium that included the champion’s brother Nathan.

Tyler Melbourne-Smith, 19, took silver in 15:30.73, Nathan Wiffen on 15:54.37. All podiums listed below the table of the all-time top 5 1500m free swims.

Dan Wiffen was a couple of seconds down on his Irish-record pace from Doha at the 400m mark and 5sec outside his best at 800m, on 7:50. And so it went until the end, as Wiffen raced a touch down on the splits of his 14:34 triumph. The first World champion and medallist of any colour at the global long-course showcase, the Irishman was back in the fray just five days after his second victory in Qatar, on the last day of action as the hero of the hour and the man of the meet to boot.

Wiffen’s time this evening was the fourth fastest of his career, topped by three sub-14:40s and including seven sub-14:50s and 12 sub 15-minute efforts, all swum since he first broke that barrier in 2022.

Keep Up With The Wiffen Twins and Loughborough Mates On YouTube

Other highlights in Sheffield this evening included a 1:58.03 win for David-Hemmings-coached Freya Colbert, Loughborough, in the 200m freestyle just five days after she lifted the world 400m medley title ing Doha, a 1:00.76 effort for the win in the 100m backstroke for Lauren Cox, Loughborough, who was fourth in the dash in Doha, a 2:11.94 win for Katie Shanahan, Stirling, in the 200m medley and a 58.32 win in the 100m ‘fly for her training partner Keanna Macinnes.

And Oliver Morgan, of Birmingham Uni, set the BUCs 100 back record twice on the day leaving it at 53.3:

SOS analysis of Doha and links to coverage:

How & Why Doha Broke The Record For Most Nations Taking Gold & Medals

Wiffen and the rest of the all-time top 5 and how their swims compare:

	5. Dan Wiffen 2024 Worlds Gold	2. Ahmed Hafnaoui 2023 Worlds Gold	3. Bobby Finke 2023 Worlds Silver	4. Gregorio Paltrinieri 2022 Worlds Gold	1. Sun Yang* 2012 Olympic Gold
100m	56.13	56.31	56.06	55.57	55.80
200m	1:54.62	1:54.70	1:54.57	1:53.67	1:54.31
300m	2:52.98	2:53.21	2:53.37	2:52.32	2:52.63
400m	3:51.27	3:51.47	3:51.86	3:51.04	3:51.50
500m	4:49.86	4:50.16	4:50.24	4:49.44	4:49.62
600m	5:48.48	5:48.99	5:48.88	5:47.88	5:48.15
700m	6:47.09	6:47.62	6:47.44	6:46.02	6:46.74
800m	7:45.79	7:46.37	7:45.98	7:44.19	7:45.45
900m	8:44.47	8:44.73	8:44.61	8:42.68	8:44.32
1000m	9:43.41	9:43.51	9:43.34	9:41.14	9:43.10
1100m	10:42.19	10:41.68	10:41.86	10:39.56	10.41.73
1200m	11:41.00	11:40.08	11:40.29	11:37.95	11:40.64
1300m	12:40.07	12:37.99	12:38.31	12:36.21	12:39.00
1400m	13:38.46	13:36.16	13:36.48	13:34.72	13:37.53
1450m	14:06.93 (28.47)	14:05.31 (29.15)	14:05.40 (28.92)	14:04.11 (29.39)	14:05.02 (27.81)
1500m	27.14 (55.61)	26.23 (55.48)	26.19 (55.11)	28.69 (58.08)	25.68 (53.49)
Result	14:34.07 IR	14:31.54 AF	14:31.59 AM	14:32.80 ER	14:31.02 WR

The BUCS podiums – Day 1:

The meet operates a female category and an Open/Male category in recognition ofd the exe-based nature of fair play and equality rules in sport.

200 free

1. Freya Colbert 20 Loughborough 1:58.03
2. Jemima Hall 23 Bath 2:00.78
3. Mia Slevin 21 Loughborough 2:01.46

Open

1. Felix Auboeck 28 Loughborough 1:47.77
2. Evan Jones 20 Stirling 1:50.35
3. Michael Ripper 23 Loughborough 1:51.44

100 backstroke

1. Lauren Cox 23 Loughborough 1:00.76
2. Niamh Ward 20 Bath 1:01.96
3. Holly McGill 19 Stirling 1:02.58

Open

1. Oliver Morgan 21 Birmingham 53.31
2. Conor Ferguson 25 Loughborough 54.03
3. Scott Gibson 24 Edinburgh 56.07

100 butterfly

1. Keanna Macinnes 23 Stirling 58.32
2. Lucy Grieve 20 Stirling 59.30
3. Ciara Schlosshan 23 Edinburgh 59.51

Open

1. Lewis Fraser 24 Swansea 52.62
2. Josh Gammon 21 Bath 52.75
3. Brodie Gordon-Gibson 19 Edinburgh 54.13

50 breaststroke

1. Tatiana Belonogoff 23 Loughborough 30.33
2. Kara Hanlon 27 Edinburgh 30.56
3. Sophie Hansson 26 Loughborough 30.76
4. Angharad Evans 21 Stirling 30.85

Open

1. Archie Goodburn 23 Edinburgh 27.63
2. Greg Butler 24 Loughborough 27.68
3. Rory Dickson 22 Stirling 28.13

200IM

1. Katie Shanahan 20 Stirling 2:11.94
2. Lily Booker 23 Loughborough 2:17.19
3. Anna Farrow 19 Bath 2:19.43

Open

1. Charlie Hutchison 22 Loughborough 2:01.44
2. Evan Jones 20 Stirling 2:01.98
3. George Smith 20 Stirling 2:03.84

1500m free

1. Fleur Lewis 21 Loughborough 16:22.88
2. Lucie Hanquet 21 Loughborough 16:48.06
3. Michaella Glenister 22 Stirling 16:50.52

Open

1. Daniel Wiffen 23 Loughborough 14:42.05
2. Tyler Melbourne-Smith 19 Loughborough 15:30.73
3. Nathan Wiffen 23 Loughborough 15:54.37

4×100 Mixed Medley

1. Loughborough Op/n Loughborough 3:50.51
   Honey Osrin 1.01.16 29.77 31.39
   Greg Butler 1.00.07 27.72 32.35
   Luke Ibbeson 54.71 25.45 29.26
   Kornelia Fiedkiewicz 54.57 26.02 28.55
2. Edinburgh Op/n Edinburgh 3:50.88
   Scott Gibson 55.95 27.30 28.65
   Kara Hanlon 1.06.80 31.73 35.07
   Ciara Schlosshan 59.30 27.57 31.73
   David Cumberlidge 48.83 23.09 25.74
3. Stirling 1 Op/n Stirling 3:51.61
   Katie Shanahan 1.01.26 30.04 31.22
   Rory Dickson 1.01.77 28.39 33.38
   Keanna Macinnes 58.46 27.11 31.35
   Evan Jones 50.12 23.91 26.21

BUCS Results in full

• – * In 2014, Sun Yang tested positive for a banned substance and was handed a three-month retrospective ban but the explanation for the overt leniency – that Chinada had failed to translate the 2014 updated version of the WADA Code in time for Sun and entourage to be aware that trimetazidine had been added to the banned substances list – was later called into doubt when documents emerged to show that Chinada had actually issued a translated version of the 2014 WADA Code in January of that year, four months before Sun tested positive. WADA investigated and accepted the lenient penalty long before proof of a January 2014 translation was unearthed and the agency did not reopen the case. The same substance, trimetazidine, landed Kamila Valieva, the Russian skater, a four-year suspension after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport) in 2024 after she tested positive at 15 years of age on the way to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In 2018, Sun Yang had a dispute with a team of Chinese anti-doping agents in an unannounced test near his home. FINA, the global swim regulator (since rebranded as World Aquatics) issued a secret report to the parties involved in the the incident but after lambasting Sun and his entourage and noting that Sun’s career had been placed on the line, the FINA panel concluded that a warning was all that was required. This author broke the news in the Sunday Times of the secret report and its details, including the smashing of the outer case of a blood sample container that had been removed from the chain of command by Sun, encouraged by an entourage that included a regional anti-doping official and the previously twice-penalised (for his role in the 2014 case) Chinese swimming team doctor, Ba Zhen. WADA was alerted, challenged FINA’s position at CAS and, on appeal, Sun was suspended for eight years, later reduced to four years and three months at a second appeal triggered by a complaint against the chair of the first CAS judges panel in relation to language perceived as conveying ant-Chinese sentiments used in tweets about the entirely separate matter of animal cruelty in China.