Daniel Wiffen targeting Olympic glory after breaking world record

The Armagh native secured his place in the history books on Sunday at the European Short Course Championships in Romania as he beat Grant Hackett's record that had stood for 15 years on his way to winning three goal medals.

Mon, 11 Dec, 2023 - 14:19

Andrew Horgan

Daniel Wiffen has set his sights on winning an Olympic medal less than 24 hours after breaking a world record in the 800m freestyle swimming.

The Armagh native secured his place in the history books on Sunday at the European Short Course Championships in Romania, as he beat the previous best time by three seconds, which was set by Australian Grant Hackett 15 years ago.

The 22-year-old became the first Irish swimmer to break a world record and won his third gold medal of the championships in the process. But speaking on RTÉ’s ‘Today with Claire Byrne’ show on Monday, Wiffen insists he is now targeting climbing the podium at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

“I'm just going to go back to training with the same mindset as before. It's definitely a possibility (winning an Olympic medal). I'm training for it. I guess we have to see what happens on the day,” said Wiffen.

"I'll train tonight (Monday) and carry on as before I swam at the competition. I did think I was going to go fast yesterday (Sunday).

“Putting it in your head is one thing, putting it on paper is a lot different. It was amazing. I always say I love training more than racing and I think that is what the secret is to swimming fast. I love turning up to training at 5am.

"I've always dreamt of breaking a world record and I've done it. I'd say long course swimming has more prestige to it. That’s the next goal, to shift the world record we did from the short course pool to the long course pool and see what we can do.

"We came into the championships with the goal of just winning one medal and then we came away with three which is amazing to start off with it.

“The world record (led) to winning the male swimmer award because I think it was the only world record in the short course season in 2023. It's pretty cool to have that to my name."

Daniel Wiffen of Ireland receives his gold medal after winning the Men's 800m Freestyle. Photo by Nikola Krstic/Sportsfile

To make his achievements over the course of the weekend even more impressive, Wiffen confirmed he had been feeling ill the night before he broke his idol’s record.

“I'm not sure if it was food poisoning or what was going on, but I was throwing up from 1am until 5am,” he revealed.

“I had really bad stomach pain. I paced it all differently compared to my normal races because I was feeling sick at the start. I got into it well then and it worked out.

"He’s obviously one of my idols and one of the greatest swimmers ever. To take down the last record of his on the books and for it to be the oldest world record standing is amazing.

“Three seconds off was just class. I was amazed. He texted me after the race to say it was just a good time and to take it in, because world records don't happen that often.

"People say records aren't forever but medals are so that's why people take in the medals more than the records."