Huge swimming shock as Grant Hackett's 15-year-old record is obliterated - and you won't believe where the new holder comes from

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.'