Daniel Wiffen splits with coach and set to return to Ireland as main base

Manley, Loughborough University’s director of swimming, coached Wiffen to success like his gold medal in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 1500m freestyle at last summer’s Paris Olympics as well as his double gold medals at last year’s World Championships. With his twin Nathan set to move to the University of California in the autumn, Wiffen plans on spending training camps stateside as part of his prep for LA ’28.

“I’m definitely moving back to Ireland as my main training base. And I will be doing stints in America because the Olympics are going to be there so you have to get ready for that way of life, that time zone,” Wiffen (23) confirmed yesterday. “Main training base will be Ireland, where the coaching and sports science will be and then I’ll do extended training camps in different places around the world.

“It’s going to be hard. I only decided four weeks ago that I was going to be leaving Loughborough, maybe actually two weeks ago we had the conversation. [Manley] thinks it’s beneficial for my career that I need a new start because being in a university programme, you get 18-year-olds, 17-year-olds coming in every year who are a lot lower level than what I am at this point in my career and you want to strive to be better than the people.

“It’s trying to progress in other areas and a university programme isn’t probably the best place for me at this point in my career.”

Wiffen says his time with Manley has finished on amicable terms.

“We’re really good friends, we chat all the time. He wants what’s best for me, he’s not a selfish coach, he’s not going to tell me to stay just for his own benefit.”

Meanwhile, Wiffen says he never experienced bullying and was not directly coached by Jon Rudd, the former national performance director for Swim Ireland. In a BBC Panorama programme broadcast last month, Rudd was accused of bullying, a toxic training environment and weight shaming by 12 swimmers he previously coached in Plymouth, England before he joined Swim Ireland in 2017.

A statement issued by Swim Ireland last month said there was “no suggestion or indication of welfare issues” during Rudd’s eight-year term with Swim Ireland. The Englishman had stepped down from his role with Swim Ireland earlier last month to take up a new position with Saudi Arabia.

Wiffen was never coached by Rudd.

“For me with Swim Ireland, and with Jon, it’s all about the high performance mindset we’ve got and honestly I’ve only got good things to say about Swim Ireland and how they supported me,” Wiffen said. “Jon was obviously not a performance director for me, he wasn’t my coach, so I’ve only got high performance questions to answer. He just answered emails for me and was never on poolside coaching so I would have no idea.”

Did Wiffen ever experience bullying or any of the issues raised in the BBC programme?

“No,” Wiffen replied.

Wiffen has a hat-trick of targets at next month’s World Aquatic Championships in Singapore. He will defend the gold medals he won in the 800m and 1,500m freestyle in Doha in February 2024 and will also compete in the 400m freestyle.

“I’ve been told a couple of times by a lot of different world champions that apparently the hardest world championships to win is the one after winning the Olympics. I’m up for the challenge. Obviously my goal is to stay undefeated in the 800m. I haven’t lost in the 800m freestyle since 2023. For me that’s the goal just to keep undefeated and win another gold medal.

“I would say we’re aiming for three gold medals. 400m is maybe a bit of a stretch because it’s a new event but definitely two.”

Daniel Wiffen was speaking after being announced as the new brand ambassador with Deloitte on a four-year sponsorship deal