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.