Despite being tipped to snatch his second gold of the competition after his 800m victory last week, it was American Bobby Finke who stole the show with a world-record-breaking swim of 14.30. 67, leaving Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri (14.34.55) with silver, and our own Wiffen trailing with bronze in a time of 14.39. 63.
The Co Armagh swimmer, who gestured a 'W' for win during his entrance, was aiming for the top spot and admittedly felt let down by tonight's result.
Yet, he shared his contentment with landing two medals this time around.
"Right now, I'm happy but disappointed at the same time. Looking across the week, I can't be pleased more with being an Olympic champion," he confessed to RTE in a post-race chat.
"With the bronze medal - I know I came into this happy with any medal - but when you hit gold the first time you race, you kind of don't want any less than that."
"But I'm happy. You know, we've never had a medal before in this competition in the Olympics for men, so to come away with two, I'm very happy."
While many pegged Wiffen to dominate the field, it was Finke who took control early on and maintained a blistering pace that the rest couldn't catch up to.
"I'm not going to lie, the way I was looking, Greg was kind of blocking Bobby so I couldn't see it," Wiffen admitted, discussing his vantage point far removed from where Finke swam to victory.
"And when I saw he was ahead I was like 'We're going to be in a very painful race now.'".
"I did try dig deep and try push it, but I just didn't have enough today."
On his week, Wiffen said: "So happy, I couldn't dream of an Olympic medal honestly. Being Olympic champion is like a dream come true. I did have my sights set on a world record but today wasn't the day."
"Well done to Bobby, he did class to get that world record, but we will be back better next time."
With two medals under his belt, Wiffen is gearing up for his chance at a third medal in the Games as he gets ready to compete in the 10km event this coming week.
"I am looking forward to that. To be honest, tonight I'm going to celebrate. I'm ready to kind of put the pool behind me now until next season."
"To be honest it's quite emotional. I don't know what to say because... I just feel in my head, a gold and a bronze, I can't be more happy."
"Today's race didn't go my way, but who cares? I'm Olympic champion."
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