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. 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 The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

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, setting an Olympic record in the former event with the time of 7:38.19. He won the 800 metre freestyle and 1500 metre freestyle events at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in

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, becoming the first male Irish swimmer in history to win a medal at the World Championships. 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 Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, 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.

Career

Wiffen competed in the men's 800 metres freestyle and 1500 metres freestyle events at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. 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. 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. He competed for Ireland at the 2023 European U-23 Championships in

, 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. At the 2023 World Championships in

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

, 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

, becoming the first male Irish swimmer in history to win a medal at the World Championships. Wiffen qualified for the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the

, 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. The medal was Ireland's twelfth Olympic gold and first in swimming since the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

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. He was the second Irish swimming medalist at the 2024 games and the first individual Olympic Gold medal winner from Northern Ireland since 1972. On 4 August, Wiffen won the bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle final, with a time of 14:39.63. He placed 18th in the men's marathon 10 kilometre event and became the first Irish Olympian to compete in the discipline.

Personal life

Wiffen was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, England, and moved to Magheralin at the age of two. He was a pupil of St Patrick's Grammar School, Armagh; in 2025 he gave his former school €29,000, from an Olympic grant, towards a new gym. He attends Loughborough University. He has three siblings, twin brother Nathan, sister Elizabeth and brother Ben. The family home is close to the border of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

and lies in

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

. Wiffen's brother Nathan is also a swimmer who finished fourth in the 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2024 European Championships and narrowly missed out on the qualifying time for the event at the

. Wiffen and his twin brother have a YouTube Channel. They both were extras in '' The Frankenstein Chronicles'' episode "Seeing Things" and the ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' episode " The Rains of Castamere," in which they appeared in the famous Red Wedding scene; in the latter, their sister Elizabeth also appeared as Neyela Frey.

Records

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiffen, Daniel 2001 births Living people Swimmers from Leeds Irish male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Ireland Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century Irish people Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Northern Ireland Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming English people of Irish descent Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Ireland Olympic bronze medalists for Ireland People from Magheralin Male swimmers from Northern Ireland British male freestyle swimmers Swimmers from County Down Twins from Northern Ireland British male long-distance swimmers Sportspeople from County Armagh Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming 21st-century British sportsmen