Wiffen, Haughey grab golds in Doha

Daniel Wiffen became Ireland’s first swimming world champion as he stormed to the 800 metres freestyle title in Doha on Wednesday while sprinter Siobhan Haughey grabbed a maiden world title for Hong Kong in the women’s 200m freestyle.

Wiffen hung back for most of his race but snatched the lead from Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri at the last turn, then powered away to win in seven mins 40.94 secs.

The Irishman finished more than two seconds better than Australia’s runner-up Elijah Winnington, while Paltrinieri, the Olympic silver medallist at the Tokyo Games, faded to third.

“It’s Ireland’s first-ever medal at a world championship level ... It’s just really cool and I’m really happy,” the 22-year-old said.

With last year’s world medallists from Fukuoka skipping the women’s 200m freestyle, Haughey felt pressure to win the event and ultimately delivered in a time of 1:54.89, nearly a second quicker than New Zealand runner-up Erika Fairweather.

Haughey, who won silver in the 100m and 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, said: “I’m the first (winner) from Hong Kong but hopefully there’s more to come.”

Another Tokyo runner-up celebrated a first world title in the 200m butterfly.

Japan’s Tomoru Honda gritted his teeth through the pain of an ankle injury to win in 1:53.88, holding off Italian runner-up Alberto Razzetti and bronze-winner Martin Espernberger.

In a matchup of second-string relay teams, the US coasted to a dominant mixed medley gold in 3:40.22 ahead of Australia and third-placed Britain.