Sharing his journey on YouTube comes with pros and cons for Daniel Wiffen

Irish Examiner

5 days ago

It won't be long coming around, a date that has such special resonance for Daniel Wiffen – July 30. That was when he etched his name into Olympic history with his 800m freestyle gold in Paris last year, and it's also the date of the 800m final at this year's World Championships in Singapore.
So, some sweet synchronicity? Wiffen hopes so. The Magheralin native, who turns 24 next month, will contest the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle in Singapore and he has a straightforward goal: 'To come away with at least one gold medal.'
Wiffen has never been shy about calling his shot and few Olympic champions are as open about their routine, documenting his training on YouTube over the past several years. Isn't he worried about giving his rivals an edge?
'Maybe it's not the best idea to show everything you do when you are training for Olympic gold, but I'm not just here to swim for myself,' he says. 'We're trying to inspire a new generation of swimmers.'
Wiffen notes that as a kid, he struggled to find much insight into how champions operated and he wants to document his path for the next generation.
'Being open about different attributes that I do differently to everybody else comes with its weaknesses,' he admits. 'But I know in my head that I'm the number one athlete in the world. I know people can't do what I do and even my competitors can't do it, otherwise I wouldn't be winning. So that's why I'm happy to share it.' Ever since slicing through the pool at La Défense Arena last July, Wiffen has seen the ripples of his achievement spread far and wide.
'I get a lot of messages about people saying they turn up every morning to swim because they watched my race in Paris, it makes it a lot more motivational for me. When I see a lot of the population getting in, going for a swim, that makes me want to keep striving for better to see more and more people (swimming).'
Before his final training camp in Malaysia in mid-July, Wiffen will be at his usual base at Loughborough University, where he and coach Andi Manley are fastidious in their search for fractions. Having studied computer science, Wiffen loves to dive into the data of his sport and one metric he focused on in the last Olympic cycle was his turn time, utilising a high-tech camera system at Loughborough to optimise it.
'We went from 100th in the world at turn time to number one in the world and that is one of the attributes that helped me win. If you watch the last 100m of that 800m, it's the turn that made the difference. I made up about half a metre and then was able to carry that speed off the wall to win that Olympic gold medal.'
Every Monday, Wiffen does testing to track progress in various areas and he and Manley have a meeting to plot out what they want from the week's training. 'That's where the confidence comes from, to make sure I'm going to be the best at each competition,' he says.
With his studies now complete, Wiffen has more time on his hands but his daily routine is much the same. He gets up at 5:45am, has two slices of toast then hits the pool for 6.15, warming up for half an hour before doing an 8km session. After that he spends 90 minutes in the gym, followed by lunch and a nap. Then he's back to the pool at 5:30pm for two more hours of swimming. Then he has dinner and is in bed at 9pm. 'I never get sick of (the routine) because I've done it for so many years and I enjoy it so much,' he says.
Even when his head hits the pillow, the preparation goes on. 'I dream about the race, I dream of scenarios that are going to happen.' One of his visualisation techniques is to submerge himself in water and go through the race in his mind as a friend times him. 'I always come up at the right time. If it's 54 seconds for the 100m, I come up with 54 seconds on the stopwatch. Over the years the visualisation piece gets stronger and stronger (so) you're able to pinpoint what is going to happen in the race, and 99% of the time what I visualise is what happens.'
After a well-earned break following the Olympics, he resumed training last December and says things have gone 'quite well' since. He's confident of launching a stout defence of his 800m and 1500m world titles in Singapore. 'I'm sitting second and third on the rankings so we're in with a shot for this gold medal,' he says. 'And I'm ready to produce a swim for it.'