Wiffen moves training base from California to Dublin

Wiffen has moved his training base from University of California, Berkley to Dublin's National Aquatic Centre [Getty Images]Olympic gold medallist Daniel Wiffen said he is looking at his training base move from University of California, Berkley to Dublin with Swim Ireland as a "permanent one".

>The 24-year-old moved to the USA, where his twin Nathan also trained, last year after five years at Loughborough University.

>He said in the lead up to the Irish Open earlier this month that he would consider moving to Dublin if if he did not put in strong performances in Bangor.

>Wiffen won three golds in the 800m freestyle, the 400m and 1500m in Northern Ireland but still decided to follow through with the switch after what he described as a "pretty awful" time in the 800m.

>"I'm looking at it as a permanent move. I thought California was a permanent move, but that didn't work out," he said.

>"This is the plan to stay here until LA [Olympics in 2028]. We have a good set-up here, we have been working on it for two weeks, very short notice but training in the national centre in Dublin and my old coach Andi [Manley] from Loughborough has also got some input on what I'm doing too.

>"It's an improved version of Paris, I get to train here and it's all very specialised. Now it's how much can I progress."

'In California it felt like you kind of didn't know what you were doing'Wiffen said that he was "already planning" on moving to Dublin even before the Irish Open.

>He had targeted a time of seven minutes 42 seconds in the 800m, but came in at 7:58.08 on his way to winning gold in Bangor and also said his performance in the 1500m was "confirmation in my head that I wasn't in the shape I wanted to be in" and that he should switch to Dublin.

>"In 1500m I got to the 1000m mark in a second off PB [personal best] pace and I could feel it fading and it was all down to the training," he added.

>"I wasn't doing the right type of work I used to do, so when it came to the decision, I sat down with Andy Reid [National Performance Director at Swim Ireland] and talked to him. We had talked of the back-up plan if California didn't work when he was first appointed, so this was already in the thinking."

>Reflecting on his time in California, Wiffen was critical of the training in the US and says he "feels a lot fitter" since he started training in Dublin.

>"In California it felt like you kind of didn't know what you were doing. You were having to push yourself, there wasn't much guidance or criticising technique.

>"They didn't want to mess up the Olympic champion is what I felt. They were trying to do what they wanted to do, not what's good for me."

>Wiffen is now gearing up for a big summer with the Commonwealth Games and European Championships on the horizon and hopes a solid block of training in his new surroundings can get him up to speed to break more records.

>"I don't know how fast I'm going to be in the summer, but I have two benchmark meets before that I can compare to other years.

>"I need to see how those go and how the training works. I have eyes on the world record in the summer, but if not I need to readjust some things."