Who is Daniel Wiffen? Ireland’s swimming world champion in profile

The pair are based in Loughborough College in Leicestershire, where Daniel studies computer science. But for the foreseeable future, he will spend more time in a swimming pool than gazing at a computer screen.

As a 19-year old-rookie, Daniel competed at the Tokyo Games in 2021. It was a valuable learning experience ahead of this summer’s Paris Games when he will be the focus of not only Irish fans but the swimming community when he steps on the starting block in the La Defense Arena in the heats of the 400m on July 27.

He makes no secret of his ambitions in Paris. The 22-year-old wants to win a medal.

‘’I want to be on the podium, the colour of the medal doesn’t matter. But I want to stand there and represent Ireland on the podium,” he said in an interview in December.

His coach Andi Manley, who is the Director of Swimming in Loughborough, has had a profound influence on his career. In his teens, Wiffen had a trial for UK Swimming – he didn’t make the cut and ultimately opted to link up with Swim Ireland.

His Christmas present to his parents, Jonathan and Rachel, was a trip to Doha to watch him in action at the World Championships.

The journey he made over the last decade would not have been possible but for their sacrifices – all those 4.30am alarm calls, packed lunches, and free chauffeuring service to training and swimming competitions.

“One hundred percent, I appreciate the role my parents played in my career,” he said.

Rachel’s family, the O’Keeffes, were originally from Kinsale but settled in Wirral while Jonathan’s family are from Leeds.

When the twins were toddlers, the family moved to Northern Ireland where Jonathan took up a position with the Almac Pharmaceutical company. The couple have two older children, Ben and Beth.

Home is Magheralin, a small village between Moira and Lurgan which straddles the county border between Down and Armagh. Though their home is in Armagh, the nearest GAA club St Michael’s, who the twins played for at underage level, is affiliated to the Down County Board.

When the twins were in first year in St Patrick’s Grammar School in Armagh, their father took up a position with a pharmaceutical company in India and the family moved there with a view to making it their permanent home.

They sourced a 50m swimming pool for the twins to continue to train in the city of Hyderabad, which hosted the 2003 Afro-Asian Games. But Rachel opted to return home with Daniel and Nathan.

For five years, Jonathan worked in India while the family visited him during the summer and spent a couple of Christmases on the sub-continent. While there, they travelled all over the country. Jonathan is still involved in the pharmaceutical industry but now works from home.

The twins remain friendly rivals, but when they were younger, the family decided they would not compete against each other.

Instead, Daniel focused on freestyle swimming while Nathan concentrated on the backstroke before switching to long-distance freestyle racing last year.

The only bump Wiffen has so far experienced in his meteoric rise in swimming were two fourth place finishes in the 800m and 1500m at the newly named World Aquatic (formerly swimming) Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last July.

He celebrated his 22nd birthday during the event but felt short-changed after the 1500m final.

“In the 800m, I wouldn’t change anything. I broke the European record and set PBs (personal bests) in both the heats and the final and that’s all you can ask for. I was just unlucky to get fourth,” he said.

In fact, his time of 7:39.19 in Japan was marginally faster than the winning time in Doha on Wednesday.

“I was disappointed with the 1500m because my PB would have got me a bronze medal. It was the first time I had never hit a PB in a race in an international competition. I knew I worked so hard to try and get on the podium and I just came up short.”

Frustratingly, immediately after his return from Japan, he competed in the European U-23 Long Course Championships in the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown, winning a gold medal in the 1500m in a time (14.35.79) that would have been good enough to secure a bronze medal in Japan.

Ahmed Hafnaoui, from Tunisia, won double gold in Japan with Australian Samuel Short second in the 800m and third in the 1500m, while American Bobby Finke won bronze in the 800m and silver in the 1500m.

Short and Finke did not compete in Doha, opting to focus on the Olympic Games in Paris, while Hafnaoui surprising failed to qualify for the final.

In a perverse way, this piled the pressure on Wiffen, but he delivered.

It mattered little that his winning time of 7.40.92 was nearly eight seconds outside the world and championship record of 7:32.12 and marginally slower than the 7:39.19 he posted in Japan when he was fourth.

At last December’s European Short Course (25m) Championships, Wiffen won the 400m, 800m and 1500m treble and set a new world record (7:20.46) in the 800m. His twin Nathan finished eighth in both finals in his first major international championship.

Don’t bet against the pair making an Olympic final this summer, but for the moment, Daniel is in the spotlight as he bids to win a second world title in the 1500m in Doha.