DANIEL WIFFEN is no longer cooking for himself these days.
And he says becoming a world champion has only increased his hunger rather than diminished it.
Wiffen’s astonishing improvements over the past few years saw him win gold in both the 800m and 1500m freestyle at the World Championships in February.
As impressive achievements as they may be, they were not his primary target for the year and he has no intention of resting on his laurels after Doha.
Wiffen said: “Has my life changed? I’ve probably got a lot more sponsors, which has definitely helped me.
“I’d say I’ve definitely got a lot more attention. And also, I think it’s actually made me train harder which I would say a lot of world champions would not say.
“Normally when you become a world champion, or what I’ve seen from the world champions that I’ve trained with in the past, they kind of slack off a bit, as soon as they reach that level. Not me.
“I kind of decided that World Championships doesn’t mean that much this season. I was like, ‘I may be world champion but that’s not my goal for this season’. That was just a stepping stone to the Olympics.
“As soon as I hit World Championships I took a couple days off and just put my head down.
“And then obviously the sponsors were great. I’ve got so many new sponsors, which helped me contribute to my training this year that allowed me to go on so many different camps —allowed me to say that I’m in the best shape of my life for going to this Olympics.”
It helps that he has his twin Nathan snapping at his heels.
In an ideal world, his brother would also have qualified for the Games but he will not only be there cheering from the stands but, according to Daniel, is a big reason why he will be in the pool.
He said: “I think everyone I’ve ever spoken to has told me I’m so lucky to have a twin and they’re right.
“I’ve got this training partner for life or best friend for life. Nobody would get under my skin like Nathan will as well.
“So we’re repping out four hundreds in training at race pace. If Nathan ever gets close to me, he’ll let me know and it’ll never happen again.
“So it’s always like back and forth battles in training. I would say that if I was able to win a medal in Paris, I would give 50 percent of that to Nathan because of the amount he contributes towards my training.”
The pair’s previous work as child actors is well documented and the 22-year-olds are keen for any further opportunities that come their way down the line.
Daniel recalled: “We have a YouTube channel that we were actually posting a lot more now in the lead-up to the Games and we will be posting a lot more during the Games.
“But yeah, that’s just a bit of fun. I can’t lie.
INSPIRATION
“I don’t do it for any reason other than that I want to show people what I’m doing all the time and to maybe inspire a new generation or just to give people an insight of what a performance athlete does on a day-to-day.
“We did a bit of child acting when we were younger. We did some CBBC stuff and some Netflix show and then obviously Game of Thrones and the Red Wedding.
“I always get asked questions, ‘Like would you like what to do again?’ I would like to do it again, but they haven’t asked me to do House of Dragon season three. If they do, I’ll take the call. I happily entertain it.”
But he is unlikely to indulge in anything which threatens his current rate of progression which has seen him emerge as one of the world’s top swimmers.
He said: “Since I started in Loughborough I’ve dropped 16 seconds in my 1500m every single year, so it’s literally been a straight-line progression for three years in a row, which I’ve kept on for this year.
“You can work out the times for yourself. It would be great to keep up that streak.
“The progression is all around my training group. I’ve got Nathan beside me, pushing me every day, my family in the background giving me support and always helping me out if I need it.
“It’s just a big group pushing everybody together and I’m really lucky to have that support system. Obviously it has to do with how fast I train and how much work I want to put in.
“I think everything in sport is to do with the mentality and I think I’ve probably got one of the best mentalities in the sport, in most sports to be honest.
“I feel like I always want to win, I will never back down from a fight and that’s what I’m bringing into this Games.
“It’s just going to be digging in hard and really grinding my teeth out in the middle of that 1500m.”
To fully focus on the Games, he has postponed the four remaining modules of his IT with Business Management degree until the next academic year.
DIET ADJUSTMENTS
And he tweaked other elements in and out of the pool in order to give him the best chance of success.
He said: “Every season I’ll change something. Otherwise I’d just stay the same or plateau.
“This season I’d say the main thing I’ve changed is I used to cook all my meals myself for me and my twin and this year I started to eat in the Loughborough Elite Athlete Centre so they were tracking my calories and stuff because I wanted that extra boost for the Olympics.
“Also in terms of training, we’ve upped the metres slightly this year and we’ve got a lot more intensity so, all-round.
“Training has been a lot harder than any other season but since I started in Loughborough it’s got harder every year so I was kind of expecting it to be tough.”
But there are some things he cannot control, such as whether his competitors are doping. He is philosophical about that.
He said: “I’m probably one of the most tested athletes in the world right now.
“I’m not really surprised when you have the results that I’ve had and the time progressions. I hope everybody gets tested the same as I do.
“I’m sure there is doping going on in every sport, it’s not just swimming. I can 100 percent tell you that there has to be someone because I’m not stupid and it happens all the time.”