By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
It’s now or never for Olympic gold medalist Daniel Wiffen vis-a-vis his time spent training in the United States at Cal.
The 24-year-old Irish swimmer has never been shy about sharing his plans, and in a recent interview with the BBC, he said that if he does not perform well at the upcoming Irish Open in Bangor from April 8-12, he will likely leave Cal.
Wiffen was born in England but raised in Northern Ireland and has represented Ireland or Northern Ireland internationally, depending on the competition. He was training at Loughborough University in the UK when he won gold in the 800 free and bronze in the 1500 free at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
He and his twin brother Nathan, though, have been mostly trained out of Cal over the last year. Nathan competed for the Cal varsity as a 5th year, in theory his final year of eligibility.
Nathan struggled at the NCAA Championships, finishing 18th in the 500 free (4:13.80) and 15th in the 1650 free (14:46.81). Those times were 1.23 seconds and 12.64 seconds off his season bests, respectively, and scored him just two points for Cal.
Daniel Wiffen recently posted a vlog from those NCAA Championships where he referred to Nathan’s performance as “not great” and said that it was the end of his collegiate career. Daniel was tapering at that meet at various 25 yard pools he could find.
“One of the main reasons I left Loughborough was I wasn’t convinced I could stay there and still go fast, I wasn’t convinced with the training and the way the programme was moving that I could perform at the best of my ability which is why I moved,” he said.
“When I went to California, it was an eye-opening experience, it was all brand new. Now, I’ve been there a bit of time it’s good to see if it works. That’s what I’m judging at the trials.
“I’m going to be very honest, if I don’t swim fast next week I’m not going to stay in California.”
He said that he would possibly train at Dublin in the future if the Irish Open, which doubles as a trials meet for this summer’s Commonwealth Games, doesn’t go well.
When comparing Loughborough and Cal, he said that in England, he felt like he had to be self-motivated, whereas at Cal he has a really fast training group to work with daily.
After Paris, Wiffen won golds in both the 800 and 1500 free at the 2024 World Short Course Championships in Doha. At last summer’s World Championships, he finished 16th in the 400 free, 8th in the 800 free, and scratched the 1500 free. After missing the final of the 400, he said that he had suffered from appendicitis about five weeks before the meet.
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