Daniel Wiffen "loving the attention" as Irish swimming history-maker takes aim at Paris 2024
The double 2024 world champion made history in Doha for Ireland. But can the 22-year-old pull off an unprecedented World Championships-Olympics long-distance quadruple in the same year?
Daniel Wiffen has made the swim world sit up and take notice after two stunning performances in the distance events at the Doha 2024 World Aquatics Championships.
The 22-year-old became the first Irish athlete to win a World Championships medal of any colour when he claimed gold in the men's 800m freestyle last week before adding the 1500m title on Sunday (18 February).
That comes off the back of a successful 2023 in which he unexpectedly demolished the long-standing short-course world record in the 800m.
Unsurprisingly, that has set tongues wagging that this summer at Paris 2024 Wiffen could become the first Irish man, and just the second Irish athlete ever, to claim Olympic swimming gold.
If he does so, he would also pull off an unprecedented Worlds-Olympics double, and potentially quadruple, in the same year – it's the first time both events are being held in the same season.
"I'm loving it," he grinned when asked by Olympics.com about the new-found attention he – and Irish swimming – has been receiving. "Obviously breaking that world record a couple months ago (led to the increase in attention)," he added.
"But I'm just trying to do my job."
Daniel Wiffen on twin Nathan, Irish teammates, and making history
It has been a quick rise for Wiffen, one half of a set of swimming twins born in County Armagh in the north of Ireland. "I guess I only started getting good a couple of years ago," he admitted, "[since] my move to Loughborough University training with Andi Manley.
"Ever since then it's just been picking up. I'm training with some great athletes at the moment so I guess it's just part of what I'm doing."
Wiffen's late surge to win the 800m gold in Doha was followed up by a convincing 10-second victory in the 1500, which is the Irishman's preferred race.
"Long course, 1500," he confirmed. "It's just a lot more fun, I think."
Some people will point to the fact that the double Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, Bobby Finke, opted to skip the 2024 World Championships – being held in February at a time when many athletes are still training to peak for national Olympic trials –, when judging Wiffen's achievements.
However, Wiffen still had to take down some big stars in distance swimming, including the likes of Mykhailo Romanchuk, Gregorio Paltrinieri, and Florian Wellbrock to claim his remarkable double. And it doesn't take away from the fact that the 22-year-old is a world champion, the first representing Ireland.
"We had this goal come into the meet of being Ireland's first ever medal, obviously coming away with the gold makes it even sweeter," he said after his 800m victory. "Maybe we're just sick of not being at the top in swimming," he said of the rise in Irish swimming, with teammate Mona Mc Sherry also finishing fifth in the women's 100m and 200m breaststroke finals, and eighth in the 50m.
Also part of the Ireland swimming team, albeit not present in Doha as part of the team, is his twin Nathan.
"Obviously having a twin who does the same event as you, it's just amazing," he said.
"We were [together] at the European [short-course championships] final there a couple of months ago and he got to watch me break the world record," Wiffen recalls – Nathan finished eighth in that final. "I'm sure in a year's time he'll be trying to break it!"
Daniel Wiffen named Best Male Swimmer at Doha 2024
For his feats in Doha, Wiffen was named the Best Male Swimmer of the World Championships.
His 7:40.94 in the 800m and 14:34.07 in the 1500m would both have been fast enough to beat Finke for gold at Tokyo 2020, with the latter time making him the fifth-fastest man all-time behind Sun Yang, Ahmed Hafnaoui, Finke, and Paltrinieri – and ahead of his self-confessed swimming hero, Grant Hackett.
It's no surprise that Irish fans are getting extremely excited about what this might mean for Paris, with Ireland's only success in the Olympic pool coming through Michelle Smith de Bruin at Atlanta 1996.
Wiffen, too, is looking forward to it. "Obviously the end goal is Paris, and that's where we're all heading at the moment," he said. "I still have six months of work to do."
He has plenty of motivation to re-write the history books in the French capital this summer, both from his peers in long-distance swimming and from inside the Irish camp.
"I guess I'm going in [as] one of the top contenders in the distance," he acknowledged. "(There's a) kind of era that we've got going on here. Like the 800 last year, five of the top ten [times in history] were set in 2023. I guess we just have to keep progressing as we are and hopefully do well in Paris.
"It's just infectious, everybody has the same attitude that everybody wants to win that medal.
"Everyone else's drive here, nobody wants to settle for fourth place, everybody just wants to keep going, just keep on top of what they've done before, and it's just amazing to be part of."