Wiffen rallies for silver as McCartney claims bronze

Northern Ireland's Daniel Wiffen claimed a silver medal in the men's 1500m freestyle final at the Commonwealth Games, after Ellie McCartney took women's 200m breaststroke bronze in Glasgow.

Wiffen, who had described himself as a "medal guarantee" in the build-up to the Games, had to settle for silver behind Australia's Sam Short but he took his final chance to stand on the podium at the Tollcross Swimming Centre.

The 25-year-old, who won 800m gold and 1500m silver at the Paris Olympics two years ago, put in his best performance of the Commonwealths after he missed out on the podium in the 400m and 800m freestyle.

Short, who also won 400m and 800m freestyle gold in Glasgow, won in a time of 14:42.11, with Wiffen 2.69 seconds behind but a comfortable second ahead of Benjamin Goedemans of Australia.

It came after McCartney finished a surprise third behind home favourite Angharad Evans and Kaylene Corbett of South Africa in the opening race of the evening.

The 21-year-old had posted the sixth-fastest time in the semi-finals but put in a storming performance to take third in a time of 2:24.73.

Her time was enough to win bronze ahead of Australia's Ella Ramsay by 0.16 seconds.

Wiffen has struggled to replicate the form that brought him to 1500m and 800m World Championship golds and his Olympic success two years ago.

He had surgery on appendicitis last July that stopped him defending his world titles at the World Championships, and he missed out on the medals in the 400m and 800m at the Commonwealths.

But after sticking with the all-conquering Short over the longest distance in the pool in Glasgow, there were glimpses of the form that brought him to be the best long-distance swimmer in the world in 2024.

"I'm so happy," Wiffen told BBC Sport.

"The 800m and 400m were a disappointment, I'd say. It kind of summed up my year of what's happened in different situations.

"I spoke to my coaches before, it was like, 'go in here, swim out how you want to swim it, forget about the race and just swim the best possible time you can'.

"That's what I did tonight. I went in with full intent and tunnel vision and I'm happy to come away with a silver medal."

McCartney is Commonwealth Youth Games in 2023 and European Under-23 gold medallist last year, but her bronze in Glasgow is a first senior international medal for the Enniskillen swimmer.

"I'm over the moon. I didn't know what to expect coming in tonight, but I just wanted to give it my all," McCartney told BBC Sport.

"It was the last individual race I have. I have the relay later tonight, so still another race to go, but I just wanted to end it off on a high."

The two medals on Wednesday brings Northern Ireland's tally in the pool to four after after Bethany Firth's bronze medal in the 200m freestyle S14 and Barry McClements' silver in the men's S9 100m backstroke.

Five minutes before Wiffen won silver, Kate O'Connor secured Northern Ireland's first gold of the Games as she won the heptathlon.

Gary Kelly and the duo of Chloe Wilson and Shauna O'Neill won bronze medals in bowls, and six Northern Ireland boxers are guaranteed medals after reaching the semi-finals.

In the men's 200m freestyle, Jack McMillan finished in sixth place as Kai Taylor of Australia won gold.

England's James Guy was second and Matt Richards of Wales took bronze.

McMillan was second after 100m metres but a surge from his Team GB team-mates was enough to surpass the 26-year-old and he finished in a time of 1:46.29 seconds.

After her medal, McCartney - along with Lottie Cullen, Alana Burns-Atkin and Grace Davison - finished seventh in the women's 4x100m medley relay final.

In the men's medley, the quartet of Patrick Johnston, Adam Bradley, Matthew Hamilton and McMillan finished in sixth place in the final as swimming came to a close at the Games.