'I always knew I'd be world champion' says Daniel Wiffen, as thoughts turn to Olympics

Still just 22-years-old, Daniel Wiffen is taking an astonishing year in his stride as he continues to build towards the Paris Olympics.

By any measure, Wiffen has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last 12 months in the pool.

The Irish Olympian served notice to everyone in December of 2022 when he became the first Irish swimmer to set a new world record, shaving 2.96 seconds off Grant Hackett's time in the 800m freestyle short-course.

Wiffen followed up that feat by winning gold in the 1500m freestyle at the European under-23 Championships along with silver in the 800m and 400m events. Then came a trio of gold medals in the 1500m, 800m and 400m at the European Short-Course championships.

With expectations duly raised, Wiffen smashed them last month at the World Championships in Doha, when he claimed gold in the 1500m and 800m freestyle and walked off with the best male swimmer award from the event.

Speaking during a well-earned rest week, Wiffen is quick to move on from the achievements of the last year and is insistent that the Paris Olympics are his sole focus now.

"We're starting back next week, I'm on a week off at the moment, but I'm looking forward to it," he said. "We getting back to camp straight away the, going straight to altitude, but yeah, I think it's going to be a good prep.

"We've got five months until the Olympics, so we've still got a long time and there's some technique aspects that we need to change that we learned from World Championships, so that's what I'm looking forward to."

"Paris has always been the goal since the last Olympics. We've been on this three-year journey of what steps we need to hit on the way, and I think Paris is going to be very fun for me."

Displaying a self-belief and confidence that could