Grant Hackett's 2008 short-course world record broken

Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen has set a short course world record in the 800-metre freestyle, beating Grant Hackett's previous mark by almost three seconds.

Ireland's Daniel Wiffen celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Men's 1500m Freestyle Final at the LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. Image AAP

Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen has broken Australian Grant Hackett's long-standing record in the short course 800m freestyle by almost three seconds.

Wiffen finished in 7 minutes, 20.46 seconds to take gold at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania on Sunday.

Hackett had held the record for 15 years after swimming 7:23.42 at the Victoria Championships on July 20, 2008.

France's David Aubry was second to Wiffen in 7:30.32, while bronze went to Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine in 7:31.20.

Wiffen, who had already won gold medals in the 400m and 1,500m freestyle at the championships, paid tribute to Hackett after breaking his record.

"I'm a big fan of Grant Hackett. He's my idol swimmer," he told website Swim Swam.

"I text him back and forth on Instagram and he's a really nice guy.

"That world record was so fast. I was two-and-a-bit seconds off it last year. To go and break it by such a big margin was amazing. It just puts perspective on how fast he was 15 years ago."