Daniel Wiffen admitted it was his ‘first and last time’ competing in open water swimming after a bruising 10km race.

The Irishman, who already took gold and silver in the 800m and 1500m pool events, finished the marathon on Friday morning in 18th place.

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But it appears that his brush with the open waters is over after one attempt after admitting he considered throwing in the towel mid-race.

When asked by RTE Sport how his first race was, he replied: “And last… It was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done. I can now say I can range for 10km.

“When you get to halfway, all I was thinking ‘I am already Olympic champion and I’m struggling in this and coming 18th. Just finishing it now’. But I’m never doing it again.

“All the coaches were laughing because I wasn’t going behind someone. All I was thinking was ‘I can’t be a**** to get kicked in the face’.

“I got a couple of elbows in the eye and got punched in the face at one point. This sport isn’t for me.

“I definitely want my own lane next time.”

The 23-year-old Leeds-born athlete did no additional training for the open water, instead concentrating on his pool duties.

That led to him becoming the first Olympic champion from Northern Ireland in 36 years when he won gold in the 800m.

But Wiffen revealed he considered dropping out of the open water race before showing ‘a lot of will power’ to get to the finish line.

“In the pool it is easy when there are eight people in a final, and there are about 30 people in it here,” he said.

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“I was about two minutes down from the front of the pack. I was like ‘do I really want to finish?’, but I needed to finish it and I’m glad to say I’m an Olympic open water swimmer.

“A lot of people would say it’s the worst race they’ve ever done, in terms of the currents,” he added.

“So for my first one to be the hardest and I came 18th, I’m very happy.”