Daniel Wiffen
Swimming
BIOGRAPHY
Daniel and his twin brother Nathan started swimming locally with Lurgan SC before moving to Lisburn SW for age-group swimming, but it is since moving to Loughborough, where he studies IT and Business, that he has become a distance superstar. His first major medal was Commonwealth silver in 1500m freestyle in 2022, and a year later he was fourth in both the 800m and 1500m at World Championships, with a new European record in the 800m. In 2023 he won three gold medals at the European SC Championships where his 7:20.46 smashed Grant Hackett’s world record from 2008. In February 2024 he not only became the first Irish swimmer to medal at a World LC Championships but became a double world champion in 800m/1500m and his 13:34:07 was the fifth fastest in history. On his Olympic debut in Tokyo Daniel set new Irish records of 7:51.65 and 15:07.69 when placing 14th & 20th respectively. He has since torn up the Irish record-books and looks set to make more history in Paris as Ireland’s first Olympian in the open water Marathon/10km event.
OTHER SWIMMING ATHLETES
SWIMMING NEWS
FULL AQUATICS TEAM OFFICIALLY SELECTED FOR TEAM IRELAND AT PARIS 2024
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has officially selected the full aquatics team who will compete at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Twelve swimmers have been named, including three relay teams. Over the weekend it was good news also for diver Ciara McGing who confirmed her allocation spot in the Women’s 10m Platform. She [...]
DIVER JAKE PASSMORE OFFICIALLY SELECTED FOR PARIS
Team Ireland Diving Announcement The Olympic Federation of Ireland has officially confirmed that Jake Passmore will be competing for Team Ireland in the Men’s 3m Springboard at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. The eighteen-year-old achieved his qualification based on his World Championship result in Doha in February where he placed 17th, improving from [...]
Early Swimming Siblings | 100 Year Moments
It was in water-polo, in 1924, that Ireland first made waves in an Olympic swimming pool and another men’s water polo team took part four years later when Irish swimming history was made. That was when the first two swimmers took part; William Broderick in 400m freestyle and Marquerite Dockrell in 100m freestyle. Broderick, from [...]
Dr. Jon Rudd | Team Behind The Team
There is surely a promising thesis subject in why Northern Englishmen seem to click so well when it comes to elite sports leadership in Ireland. Jack Charlton and Andy Farrell are two outstanding examples and another is Dr Jon Rudd, the Performance Director for Swim Ireland since 2017 and a very proud Yorkshire man from [...]
Performance Round Up – December
Catch up on the latest results of Team Ireland athletes throughout the month of December! Daniel Wiffen Smashes The Oldest Swimming World Record Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen had the swim of his life on Sunday, smashing the oldest World swimming record on the books in the 800m Freestyle Final at the European Aquatics Short Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania. Wiffen, [...]
Daniel Wiffen Smashes Oldest Swimming World Record
Daniel Wiffen Smashes Oldest World Swimming Record Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen had the swim of his life on Sunday, smashing the oldest World swimming record on the books in the 800m Freestyle Final at the European Aquatics Short Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania. Wiffen, the European Record (7:25.96) holder, took almost three seconds off Australian legend Grant Hackett’s 2008 time of 7:23.42, [...]