'Medal guarantee' Wiffen ready for Commonwealth Games
Daniel Wiffen will compete in the 400m, 800m and 1500m in the Commonwealth Games
- Published
He has won gold in the Olympics, Worlds and Europeans since taking silver in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but Daniel Wiffen says that second-place finish in Birmingham still "sits over my head".
Ultra-competitive by nature, Wiffen acknowledges that the Games four years ago were the springboard to the unprecedented success that has since followed, including 800m gold and 1500m bronze at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
That is why, two years out from the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, he is looking forward to this year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where he will compete in the 400m, 800m and 1500m and aim to add more gold medals to his burgeoning collection.
"I think after Tokyo [Olympics in 2021] we had a three-year plan and the first was to medal at the Commonwealth Games. You get the first thing ticked off the list and you're on the way. It was the catalyst which started my swimming career," Wiffen told BBC Sport NI.
"The Commonwealth Games silver sits over my head as I wish I won it, but I've always said in 2026 I want to win every competition.
"I had a bit of a drought before the Europeans and I wasn't in my top form for like a year and I think Commonwealth Games, I'm looking forward to getting my redemption and getting a gold medal - at least one - and to be honest, I want three but I have to see."
Dealing with newfound fame after Paris
Wiffen won Olympic gold in the 800m and bronze in the 1500m in Paris two years ago
Life has changed drastically for Wiffen since Birmingham four years ago as a result of his success in the pool.
He is now regularly stopped in the street for photographs and has enjoyed his newfound fame.
"I like it, it's cool people recognise the hard work you put in. I've been swimming since I was seven and my parents always said they never thought I'd become a celebrity in Ireland. You get a lot of free stuff which they like!" he joked.
Wiffen also gives an insight into life as a high-performing athlete by regularly posting YouTube videos on a channel he shares with his twin brother Nathan.
The channel has gained over 100,000 subscribers and the 24-year-old believes the experience of posting videos in which he talks to a camera has helped him with media duties as a swimmer.
"For Paris I was posting videos all the way along and people were like you should stop and hide it but I was like, to be honest, I'm training faster than anyone else and I'm making them scared," he said.
"People find media interviews daunting but I think because I started my YouTube channel when I was 18 and I've been doing that, I've become quite good on camera and quite good at being myself instead of putting on a fake persona that other people do."
'Nothing is going to stop me'
Wiffen is part of Team NI's 15-strong swimming squad heading to Glasgow and is one of their genuine multiple medal contenders, although he would rather refer to himself as a "medal guarantee".
Bethany Firth, Barry McClements and Wiffen brought home NI's three medals in Birmingham, but the Magheralin man believes more medals will follow this year given the work that has gone into developing the swimming programme across the island of Ireland.
"One of the main things you notice over the years is the systems building up the athletes have got more experience from outside resources and people from different countries who have had success before and they can build the athletes up from a younger age.
"No doubt we'll have a better medal count than in Birmingham, I think we'll have multiple golds."
Wiffen's self-belief is to be admired and has only been strengthened by a tough spell in 2025 in which his form dipped as he battled back from appendicitis surgery.
He recovered to win three medals at the European short course championships, which gives him the confidence that he can bounce back from future setbacks in whatever form they take.
"Before European short course last year I had a bit of doubt and that's the first time in my life, it was because I had appendicitis and I had a month to train, from zero to 100 in a month to win the Europeans and after I did that I believe I can win anything.
"After that setback nothing is going to stop me."
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