Daniel Wiffen has made Irish swimming history by winning gold in Wednesday’s 800m freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha.
The Armagh native is the first Irish swimmer to win a medal at the World Championships, and he delivered the top award in a time of 7:40.94, a full two seconds clear of Australia’s Elijah Winnington.
It caps a remarkable rise for the 22-year-old swimming sensation, who made headlines in recent months by becoming the first from Ireland to break a world record.
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We look back at Wiffen’s rise through the swimming ranks, from his first time in a swimming pool to his history-making achievement in Doha.
Early years
Born on July 14, 2001, Wiffen hails from Magheralin, a village between Moira and Lurgan in Co Down, and was a past pupil of St Patrick’s Grammar in Armagh.
Wiffen and his identical twin brother Nathan both took a keen interest in swimming during their formative years, with Nathan initially specialising in backstroke while Daniel specialised in free.
According to their parents, both boys loved the water from their very first splash at a Water Babies sessions. Their love for swimming deepened when their older brother Ben had joined Lurgan Swimming Club and the twins followed suit aged six.
2012 was a pivotal for both of the Wiffen boys as they joined Lisburn Swimming Club and started on their respective competitive journey, with Nathan clocking up his first Irish medal in the 2012 Summer Nationals – Division 2.
In 2015 Daniel was selected for the Irish National Team and took part in various Swim Ireland camps and competitions.
The siblings moved up the ranks of Irish swimming together and moved to the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin together.
The two brothers later moved to Loughborough University together, where they continue to live, study and train, with Daniel also pursuing a degree in IT with Business Management at the Leicestershire-based university.
Speaking about his relationship with his brother, Wiffen told Olympics.com: “I don’t really have much of a rivalry with my older brother [Ben] – he quit just before I was going to beat him.
“But me and my twin Nathan have a big rivalry because we train together and he’s doing the same events as me, he used to do backstroke and now he does distance freestyle.”
Game of Thrones appearance
Aside from being a champion swimmer, Wiffen also has the distinction of featuring in one of the most popular TV shows of all time, Game of Thrones.
The hit TV series was partly filmed in Belfast, with Wiffen and his twin brother Nathan, having the opportunity to appear as extras in one of the series’ most memorable episodes, the infamous Red Wedding.
In a 2022 interview, Wiffen explained that he and his brother landed a background role in the series after his sister was cast in the hit fantasy series.
“I didn’t really know about Game of Thrones when I was younger,” he revealed.
“My parents wouldn’t let me watch it, but my sister got a really good role in Game of Thrones – she was one of the Frey daughters. So she came in and did her bit, and then we came in for the Red Wedding, in the background – which was pretty cool.”
The brief appearance on Game of Thrones fuelled Wiffen and his brother’s love of acting and they also played the role of Henry Bowyer in one episode of The Frankenstein Chronicles from six years back.
“It’s on Netflix, and I was also on a couple of British Children’s TV shows as well because I was a twin,” Wiffen revealed. “Acting’s big for twins when they’re younger.”
Swimming success
However, swimming remains Wiffen’s biggest passion and in 2019, at the age of 17, he took down a long course Irish Junior Record at the 2019 Irish Open Swimming Championships.
He swam a new lifetime best of 8:16.79 in the 800, clearing the European Junior Championships and World Junior Championships time standards in the process, and surpassed the previous Junior Record of 8:19.15 by over two seconds to earn a national title.
The following year, at the Irish Winter Meet in Dublin, Wiffen set a new national record in the 1500 freestyle with a time of 15:19.04, cutting just over half a second off of the longstanding Irish national record of 15:19.98.
In 2021 he made the Irish team for Tokyo 2020, where he was one of eight on the nine-strong Irish Olympic Swimming roster making his Olympic debut.
(Image: INPHO/Morgan Treacy)
In the 800 free in Tokyo, Wiffen clocked 7:51.65 to erase his previous Irish mark of 7:52.90. He placed 14th, in the 1500 free, where he posted a time of 15:07.69 to break his own Irish record from April.
Following his strong showing at the Olympics, Wiffen went on to break the 15mins mark in the 1500m at the FINA World Championships in Budapest – becoming the first Irish swimmer to do so – where he eventually finished fourth.
At that same Championship, Wiffen broke the national 800m freestyle record, clocking in at 7:46.32 and knocking over four seconds off his own record of 7:50.74, that was set in April of that year. In doing so, he became the first ever Irish swimmer to make the final of a World Championship, placing eighth in the 800m freestyle.
Meddling at the Commonwealth Games
Weeks after Budapest, Wiffen won silver in the 1500 free at the Commonwealth Games, where he was representing Northern Ireland.
The Irishman was one of only two men to finish inside 15 minutes at the Games, along with Australian champion Samuel Short in 14:51.79.
Wiffen also twice lowered the 400 free standard, heading the heats in 3:47.43 before missing out on a medal in the final by one spot in 3:46.62, 0.13 off third occupied by Rio 2016 champion Mack Horton.
More success was to follow for Wiffen, who stormed to a new Irish record in the men’s 800m freestyle at the British Universities & Colleges (BUCS) Short Course Championships in Sheffield in November 2022, while he also set the new Irish men’s 400m record at the 2022 Scottish National Short Course Championships.
Record breaker
2023 was an historic one for Wiffen. In July’s 800m World Championship freestyle final in Japan, he set a new European record but fell short of earning Ireland’s first World Championship long-course swimming medal.
In a dramatic final Wiffen was just .52 away from bronze, finishing in 7:39.19, taking almost five seconds off his Irish Record of 7:43.81 which he had set the previous day, and .08 of a second off Italian Gregoria Paltrinieri’s European record of 7:39.27 set at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Wiffen made history again in December 2023 at the European Short Course Championships when he claimed a first-ever world record for an Irish swimmer.
(Image: INPHO/Andrea Staccioli)
The Irish distance specialist fired off a personal-best 7:20.46 in the SCM 800 freestyle, demolishing the legendary world record of 7:23.42 set by Australia’s Grant Hackett back on July 20, 2008, which made it the oldest word record in swimming.
Wiffen’s phenomenal performance saw him take gold at the swimming Championships in Romania.
Reacting to his record breaking success, Wiffen said: “Amazing. That world record, I think, is one of the oldest on the books and to beat Grant Hackett’s record, it’s just amazing. I look up to him every day and to smash it is class.
“I had people messaging me asking if I was going to try and break the world record, but I was trying to keep it under wraps that I was in the shape for it. I actually felt horrible during the morning so it’s great to swim that fast when I’ve been feeling that way.”
Wiffen had won 400m freestyle gold at the Championships just days earlier, breaking his own Irish record by over five seconds. He then claimed a second top podium spot by producing the third fastest time ever in the 1500m freestyle final a few days later.
Wiffen success in the 800m came just days after he had already taken gold in the 1500m and 400m freestyle.
800m freestyle champion
Wiffen added to his growing list of accomplishments on Wednesday when he secured Ireland’s first ever World Aquatics World Championship medal.
The 22-year-old stormed to gold and a first ever World Title in the 800m Freestyle in Doha in a time of 7:40.94, two seconds ahead of his closest competitor.
Speaking after his historic win, a delighted Wiffen said: “Amazing. Obviously the goal coming into this meet was to win a world medal and make the podium for Ireland, win Ireland’s first ever medal at a world championship level. It’s just really cool to say and I’m really happy.”
Wiffen is now targeting further success at this summer’s Olympics in Paris 2024, and given his remarkable rise over the past few years, few will be betting against him.
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