Olympic Champion Daniel Wiffen Moves Training Base to Dublin after Short-Lived California Switch
Olympic champion Daniel Wiffen has moved his training base to Dublin following a spell at the University of California.
Wiffen, who won 800 gold and 1500 silver at Paris 2024, moved Cal last year following five years at Loughborough where Andi Manley coached him to Olympic and world titles.
However, he said before the recent Irish Championships that he may well return to Dublin if his times fell short of his targets in Bangor.
Wiffen completed the distance freestyle treble but his times were some way off what he’d outlined going into the meet.
Daniel and Nathan Wiffen: Courtesy: Swim Ireland
Now he’s confirmed that he has left Cal and returned to Ireland where he’ll reunite with Manley and Steve Beckerleg at the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin. Brother Nathan will also return to Ireland.
He told reporters from the Irish news outlets: “I’m looking at it as a permanent move. I thought California was a permanent move, but that didn’t work out.”
“This is the plan to stay here until LA [Olympics in 2028]. We have a good set-up here, we have been working on it for two weeks, very short notice but training in the national centre in Dublin and my old coach Andi [Manley] from Loughborough has also got some input on what I’m doing too.
“It’s an improved version of Paris, I get to train here and it’s all very specialised. Now it’s how much can I progress.”
It follows the announcement of the brothers’ selection among the Swim Ireland team for the European Championships in Paris this summer where Nathan will contest the open water in the same River Seine where his brother became Ireland’s first marathon swimmer at an Olympics.
The last nine months have seen Wiffen have appendicitis and subsequent surgery following his withdrawal from the World Championships in Singapore ahead of the 1500 after struggling through the 800 in excruciating pain.
He then moved to join his brother in Berkely before returning to international competition at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin where he won the 1500 title as well as bronzes in the 400 and 800.
This summer will present a double-pronged schedule for Wiffen with the swimming programme at the Commonwealth Games running from 24-29 July. The European Championships swiftly follow from 10-16 August with a European long-course medal the one that’s missing from Wiffen’s collection.