Daniel Wiffen kicked back and swapped swimming for surfing after Olympic glory

In the wake of his Olympic heroics, Daniel Wiffen has been enjoying life away from the rigours of the training pool, although the Armagh man is cranking up his regime after a well-deserved break.

Wiffen capped his annus mirabilis with a gold medal in the 800m freestyle at Paris 2024, adding a bronze in the 1500m freestyle for good measure, while he became a double world champion and a triple European short course champion earlier in the year.

The 23-year-old could only finish 18th in the 10km open-water race in the Seine, but his open-water experiences on the Indonesian island of Bali have proven far more enjoyable, as he told RTÉ's Saturday Sport.

"I've done a lot of holidays. I've had a good time. I'm ready to start back training, but my favourite part was obviously going on holiday to Bali with my training partner and Nathan, my twin," he said.

"I had a really good time surfing and I'm ready for LA Olympics to start surfing!"

Wiffen returned to the pool five weeks ago, but revealed that his swims have been comparatively leisurely.

"I still swim. I just don't have that competitive mindset," he explained. "I just go in for a little paddle, like a normal granny would every morning.

"My mum does a hundred laps. I would do a hundred laps in the pool."

Returning to the subject of his Bali holiday, Wiffen said: "Nathan and my training partner Lucas, they're the exact same as me. They all want to be in the pool.

"So we made sure every Airbnb we stayed in had a swimming pool. So we'd have our early-morning swim.

"Surfing kind of helped because we were surfing six hours a day. You're still swimming when you're surfing, you're paddling. So I didn't really stop to be honest, but it was just a different type of sport."

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