Daniel Wiffen

Last updated

Daniel Wiffen
Personal information
Born (2001-07-14) 14 July 2001 (age 23)
Leeds, England
Home town Magheralin, County Down [a]
Sport
CountryIreland
Northern Ireland
Sport Swimming
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
Summer Olympics
Olympic rings.svg
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Paris 800 m freestyle
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg2024 Paris 1500 m freestyle
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2024 Doha 800 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2024 Doha 1500 m freestyle
European U-23 Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Dublin 1500 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2023 Dublin800 m freestyle
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg2023 Dublin400 m freestyle
European Championships (SC)
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Otopeni 400 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2023 Otopeni800 m freestyle
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg2023 Otopeni1500 m freestyle
Representing Ulster Banner.svg  Northern Ireland
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2022 Birmingham 1500 m freestyle

Daniel Wiffen (born 14 July 2001) is an Irish swimmer. He is an Olympic champion and bronze medalist, two-time world champion and three-time European short course champion. In December 2024, he was named BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year. [1]

Contents

Wiffen won the gold medal in the men's 800 metre freestyle and the bronze medal in the men's 1500 metre freestyle at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, setting an Olympic record in the former event with the time of 7:38.19. [2] [3] He won the 800 metre freestyle and 1500 metre freestyle events at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, becoming the first male Irish swimmer in history to win a medal at the World Championships. [4] [5]

Wiffen won gold medals in the 400, 800 and 1500 metre freestyle events at the 2023 European Championships (25m) in Otopeni, and the inaugural European Under-23 1500 metre freestyle title at the 2023 European U-23 Championships in Dublin. He competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games for Northern Ireland, where he won the silver medal in the men's 1500 metre freestyle event.

Wiffen holds the 800 metres freestyle short-course world record with a time of 7:20.46. [6]

Career

Wiffen competed in the men's 800 metres freestyle and 1500 metres freestyle events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. [7] [8] He won his first senior international medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where he placed second in the men's 1500 metre freestyle event and competed for Northern Ireland. [9] In December 2022, Wiffen broke the European record for the 800 metres freestyle short course, becoming the first Irishman to hold a European record in swimming. [10] He competed for Ireland at the 2023 European U-23 Championships in Dublin, where he became the inaugural European Under-23 champion in the 1500 metre freestyle event and won silver medals in the 400 and 800 metre freestyle events.

Wiffen won gold medals in the 400, 800 and 1500 metre freestyle events at the 2023 European Championships (25m) in Otopeni, where he also set a new world record in the 800 metre freestyle short course with a time of 7:20.46 and became the first Irish swimmer to win a European short-course gold medal. [11] At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, he broke the European record for the 800 metres long course with the time of 7:39.19. Wiffen won gold medals in the 800 metre freestyle and 1500 metre freestyle events at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, becoming the first male Irish swimmer in history to win a medal at the World Championships. [4] [5]

World Championships Results
Year400m800m1500m
2022 —8th9th
2023 4th4th
2024 7thGold medal icon.svgGold medal icon.svg

Wiffen qualified for the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, but decided not to compete in the 400m and instead swim in the 10 km open water swimming. He qualified in first place for the 800m freestyle final and on 30 July, he won the gold medal with a new Olympic record time of 7:38.19. [12] The medal was Ireland's twelfth Olympic gold and first in swimming since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was the second Irish swimming medalist at the 2024 games and the first individual Olympic Gold medal winner from Northern Ireland since 1972. [13] [14] [15] On 4 August, Wiffen won the bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle final, with a time of 14:39.63. [16] [17] He placed 18th in the men's marathon 10 kilometre event and became the first Irish Olympian to compete in the discipline. [18] [19]

Olympic Results
Year800m1500mOW 10 k
2024 Gold medal icon.svgBronze medal icon.svg18th

Personal life

Wiffen was born in Leeds, England, and moved to Magheralin at the age of two. He has three siblings, twin brother Nathan, sister Elizabeth and brother Ben. [20] [21] The family home is close to the border of County Down and lies in County Armagh. [22] Wiffen's brother Nathan is also a swimmer who finished fourth in the 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2024 European Championships [23] and narrowly missed out on the qualifying time for the event at the 2024 Summer Olympics. [24]

Wiffen and his twin brother have a YouTube Channel. [25] They both were extras in The Frankenstein Chronicles episode "Seeing Things" and the Game of Thrones episode "The Rains of Castamere," in which they appeared in the famous Red Wedding scene; [26] in the latter, their sister Elizabeth also appeared as Neyela Frey. [27] [28]

Wiffen attends Loughborough University. [29]

Records

RecordEventTimeMeetDateClub
WR, NR 800m Freestyle (SC)7.20.46 2023 European SC Championships 10 December 2023 Ireland
OR, ER, NR800m Freestyle7:38.19 2024 Summer Olympics 30 July 2024
NR400m Freestyle3:44.352023 Swim Open Stockholm13 April 2023 Loughborough University
NR1500m Freestyle14:34.07 2024 World Championships 18 February 2024Ireland
NR400m Freestyle (SC)3:35.47 2023 European SC Championships 5 December 2023Ireland
NR1500m Freestyle (SC)14:09.11 2023 European SC Championships 7 December 2023

Notes

  1. ↑ Magheralin is mainly in County Down but Wiffen's family home is in the County Armagh part of the village.

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References

  1. ↑ 'Wiffen wins BBC NI Sports Personality of the Year'. BBC Sport, 23 December 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024
  2. ↑ Diallo, Raf. "Paris 2024: Daniel Wiffen surges to gold in 800m final". RTE. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "Daniel Wiffen: Magheralin welcomes Paris gold medal hero home". BBC . 13 August 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Daniel Wiffen makes history with gold medal at World Championships in Doha". RTÉ Sport. 15 February 2024. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024.
  5. 1 2 "World champion Daniel Wiffen savouring 'surreal' achievement". RTÉ Sport. 15 February 2024. Archived from the original on 29 July 2024.
  6. ↑ Ryan, Eoin (4 July 2024). "Daniel Wiffen smashes 800m freestyle world record to win third European Short Course Championships gold". RTÉ Sport . Archived from the original on 29 July 2024.
  7. ↑ "Men's 800m Freestyle: Results Summary" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  8. ↑ "Men's 1500m Freestyle Heats Results" (PDF). Tokyo 2020. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 30 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  9. ↑ "Daniel Wiffen". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  10. ↑ Kenny, John (15 December 2022). "Wiffen sets European record in 800m freestyle". RTÉ Sport .
  11. ↑ "Wiffen sets 800m freestyle short course record". ESPN . 11 December 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "Paris 2024: Daniel Wiffen surges to gold in 800m final". BBC Sport. 30 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  13. ↑ Gray, Andy (29 July 2024). "Wiffen 'had eyes on Olympic record' in 800m heats". BBC Sport . Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  14. ↑ Campbell, Brett (30 July 2024). "Co Down swimmer becomes first individual NI athlete to win Olympic gold in 52 years". Belfast Telegraph . Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  15. ↑ O’Brien, Brendan (29 July 2024). "Mona McSharry wins bronze for Ireland at the Olympic Games". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  16. ↑ McKendry, Adam (4 August 2024). "Magheralin's Daniel Wiffen claims second Olympic medal after sealing bronze in 1500m freestyle". Belfast Telegraph . Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  17. ↑ "Paris 2024: Daniel Wiffen third as Bobby Finke breaks world 1500m freestyle record". RTE Sport. 4 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  18. ↑ Gray, Andy (9 August 2024). "Daniel Wiffen: Olympic champion proud after 'first and last' open water marathon". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  19. ↑ Gough, Ellen (8 August 2024). "Daniel Wiffen to make history in 'gruelling' open water marathon swim". Limerick Leader . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  20. ↑ "Olympics Swimmer Daniel Wiffen's Sister Elizabeth Played Neyela Frey In The Game of Thrones". Amy Movie. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  21. ↑ Raf Diallo, 'Paris 2024: Daniel Wiffen ice cold as Olympic zenith carried on commentary wave (video 2)'. RTÉ Sport, 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024
  22. ↑ 'Armagh or Down? Which county can claim Daniel Wiffen?'. BBC News, 31 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024
  23. ↑ "Men's 1500m Freestyle Final". European Aquatics. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  24. ↑ Nathan Wiffen misses out on place at Olympic Games, Nigel Ringland, BBC Sport, 26 May 2024
  25. ↑ "Wiffen Twins". YouTube. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  26. ↑ "Daniel Wiffen: From Game of Thrones extra to centre stage for Ireland swimming". Olympics.com. 22 November 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  27. ↑ Rossi, Pilar (6 August 2024). "Olympic swimming medalist Daniel Wiffen was in famous 'Game of Thrones' scene" . Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  28. ↑ "Olympics Swimmer Daniel Wiffen's Sister Elizabeth Played Neyela Frey In The Game of Thrones". Amy Movie. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  29. ↑ Gray, Andy (25 July 2024). "Paris 2024: 'I'm not coming away from Paris without a medal'". BBC News . Archived from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Wiffen, a student at Loughborough University.
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