'No stopping me yet', says Wiffen after becoming world champion

Daniel Wiffen has come a long way since those early days as a toddler, splashing around the swimming pools in Lurgan and Lisburn with his twin brother Nathan.

The 22 year-old is now a world champion after a sensational swim in the 800m freestyle final in Doha.

Wiffen is a history maker. Ireland's first global swimming champion.

It is a massive achievement, yet the laidback personality of Ireland's latest sporting star makes it seem like the obvious next step on his journey.

"I feel like people have different reactions to becoming world champion," Wiffen told BBC Sport Northern Ireland on Thursday, less than 24 hours after winning his gold medal.

"I feel like my reaction compared to some people's was quite tame.

"I think it sank in that I am world champion, but I think the job's not done. This year is really just getting started, and that's what I'm really focusing on.

"And I'm sure when I get back home, and I'm getting a week off soon, so to go back home, I'm sure I'm going to feel it then."

The Magheralin swimmer's journey in recent times began with his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics barely three years ago.

Since then, he has repeatedly smashed national records, become the first Irish swimmer to set a European record, won a Commonwealth Games silver medal for Northern Ireland and reached multiple world finals.

Then in December he struck gold three times at the European Short Course Championships and set the 800m freestyle world record.

There will be those in the swimming and wider sporting world that will be surprised at Wiffen winning a world title. But anyone who knows him will not be.

"I guess I always wanted to become world champion, just building off of the short course world record.

"It really was just the next step, I guess, to be a medallist. And obviously, Ireland had never won a medal at a World Aquatics Championships.

"And it's nice to be the first, and even better to have gold. All that work I put into this, all those nerves I felt, all that pressure that was part of me, it just was all worth it in the end."

Watching on in the crowd were proud parents Jonathan and Rachel. Their trip to Doha was Daniel's Christmas present to them. A repayment for all of those early starts to drive him to training every day.

"I knew that them being there would make it extra special because they missed the world record because they had to go to a wedding," he said.

"They put so much work into me. I just wanted to give back to them.

"Those early mornings, my mum making my breakfast for me the night before I went in the car, driving me to school, picking me up from school and driving me straight to training.

"I'm just happy that they can see their son thrive in this atmosphere and be the first person ever in Irish history to get a medal at a World Championships.

"I've done a couple firsts in my life, but this one definitely tops it. And, yeah, it's just special for them to be in the crowd. They threw the flag down to me, with 'Team Wiffen' on it.

"And they're actually loving Doha as well. Mum's treating it as a mini-holiday.

"They've got their wedding anniversary while they're here, so what a great way to celebrate it."

Someone else in the crowd who has had a huge influence on Wiffen's career was Andi Manley, his coach from Loughborough University.

Wiffen's move to the centre of excellence in Leicestershire, where he studies Computer Science, was crucial in his rise to world champion.

Wiffen's trains every day with Olympic and world medallists and that has paid dividends in what he has been able to achieve.

But the journey is far from over. His immediate thoughts are on the 1500m freestyle this weekend and the opportunity for double world gold.

"The 1500 is my preferred event, long course. I love that event. It's like just relaxing in my head," he explained.

"It's just like metronome swimming and just really fun to me. And I mean, I obviously want to be on the podium in the 1500, and I think I will get there.

"It'll just be trying to make it through the heat.

"So it'll be the hardest part, in my opinion, because there's a lot of people here who will want to put a target on my back, who will want to be kicking me out of the heats to make sure that I won't be on that podium.

"But I'll just be trying to control the race in the heats and making sure that I do the job."

When he returns home next week his thoughts will immediately turn to the Paris Olympics and the sport's ultimate prize, where he admits there will be increased pressure on him after his success in Doha.

"I'm up for it. It doesn't bother me. Nathan told me, as soon as you become champion, you become 50% better. So I guess that's what we're going to have to become.

"I'm ready to up my game now because Paris is not going to be easy but I'm putting everything into this year.

"If you looked at me when I was younger, nobody would have thought I would become a world champion.

"I put the hard work in every day. I don't think there's any sign of me stopping yet."