NI’s Olympic champions struggle on medal-less MondayImage source, Inpho and gettyImage caption, McClenaghan finished sixth in the pommel horse final and Wiffen fourth in the 800m finalByLauren McCannBBC Sport NI Journalist in GlasgowPublished14 minutes ago”Olympic champion is feeling rusty at the Commonwealth Games.”It was the words of 800m freestyle Olympic gold medallist Daniel Wiffen, but they equally could have come from or been applied to fellow Olympic champion on the pommel horse Rhys McClenaghan.It was meant to be a magical Monday for Team Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games, with both Olympic champions in action.The expectation was they could be the two, who were among the headline names of the young squad sent to these Games given their previous winning pedigree, that would bring NI’s first two gold medals in Glasgow.It was more mediocre than magic though as both struggled in their favourite events, so much so they didn’t even make it on the podium, with McClenaghan sixth in the pommel horse final and Wiffen fourth in the 800m decider.McClenaghan was a master of his own downfall, starting slow with his new routine and finishing even worse, but he was not too downcast by his performance and wanted to focus instead on how it was a step towards a bigger goal with the next Olympics two years away.He mentioned that while the routine obviously “didn’t go to plan” it was “another stepping stone to what’s to come” on his journey back to the ultimate pinnacle of retaining Olympic gold.Wiffen too is building for two year’s time, but was much more self-critical, stating that he “didn’t know what was going on” with himself as he was outclassed by the strong Australian trio of Sam Short, Benjamin Goedemans and Matthew Galea.”They [the Australians] have come to play and I haven’t to be honest. I thought I would at least be a 7:42 time coming into this [he swam 7:48.82] and honestly I just felt a bit rusty coming into this.”I did try to push it but I just felt my stroke was all over the place.”McClenaghan finishes sixth in pommel horse final
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