“Haven’t Been Known for Swimming”: Daniel Wiffen Reveals His Thoughts About Winning First Ever World Championship

At least a decade ago, Daniel Wiffen was splashing pools in Lurgan and Lisburn alongside his brother Nathan Wiffen. Three years ago, he hadn’t even swam once competitively, and now, the 22-year-old is not only a World Record holder but a World Champion as well as a European Champion. His sensational victory at the Doha Aquatic World Championships was even more remarkable because it marked a historic moment for Ireland.

Wiffen’s brilliant 800-meter swim marked Ireland’s first-ever swimming, rather a first-ever medal in any Aquatics discipline at the World Championships. And as he wrote history, he couldn’t hold his love for Irish swimming.

Daniel Wiffen pitches Irish swimming at Doha Worlds

The fact that Daniel Wiffen’s gold triumph at the World Aquatics Championships, Doha marked Ireland’s first-ever World medal in swimming is itself a mirror to where it was. However, the European Champion is here to change that. In an interview with World Aquatics, Wiffen expressed his joy after a breathtaking swim saying, “Yeah, It’s amazing“. But soon enough, he put his case for Irish swimming.

“We haven’t been known for swimming but it’s definitely going up there“, Wiffen expressed. Calling his breaking of World Record during short course European Championships and current World Championship triumph as just the start of the golden period, he added, “I’m at loss of words. It’s cool. We really want to put the Irish swimming right there”. But the ‘job’s not done‘ yet for the 22-year-old as he aims bigger for the biggest stage in Paris.

Paris Olympics is the ultimate dream

While Daniel Wiffen’s 7:40:94 time marked a historic moment for Ireland, he was only using it as a preparation for the Paris Olympics 2024. Speaking with Olympics.com, he revealed, “This is great (win). I’m using this as a test Olympics. I’m looking forward to it. I still have six months of work to do. There’s still tweaks to make“. And 800m isn’t even his ‘preferred event’.

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Wiffen secured three golds at the European Short Course Championships in December last year and also set the World Record for 800-meter freestyle swimming. But his preferred event is 1500m. “I love that event. It’s like just relaxing in my head“, he expressed. It will be exciting ahead for the 22-year-old as he sets out to conquer the Olympic stage.

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