One of the best distance swimmers in the world is contemplating making a move to the NCAA, and his sights are set on only one team.
Daniel Wiffen, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 800 freestyle, is currently on a visit at Cal, alongside his twin brother, Nathan, who announced his commitment to the Bears in November.
At the time of Nathan’s commitment two months ago, Daniel told SwimSwam he had no updates on his training future, but he confirmed this week that he is considering joining his brother in the United States and swimming collegiately for Cal.
“Really liking Cal,” he said, adding that he won’t be taking visits to other NCAA programs. “Only Cal.”
An Irish native, Wiffen roared to gold in the men’s 800 free at last summer’s Olympics in Paris, setting a new Olympic and European Record of 7:38.19. The 23-year-old also won Olympic bronze in the 1500 free (14:39.63), following up on his sweep of the 800 free (7:40.94) and 1500 free (14:34.07) at the 2024 World Championships in Doha.
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Also the world record holder in the SCM 800 free (7:20.46) and the 3rd-fastest performer in history in the 1500 free (14:09.11), the addition of the second Wiffen twin would be a massive get for the Bears.
Wiffen would instantly become the favorite to win the mile at the NCAA Championships, with his long course 1500 converting to 14:16, which would rank #2 all-time, while his converted 800 free would come in at 8:33 for the 1000—under the all-time record of 8:33.93, though not an event raced at NCAAs. (Wiffen’s converted SCM times would be 8:23/14:04 in the 1000/1650.)
He’s also elite in the 400 free, owning best times of 3:44.35 in LCM and 3:35.47 in SCM (LC converting to 4:11.37 in the 500 free), and the 400 IM could be a potential option for him in college as well, having been 4:11.05 in SCM back in December 2022.
Nathan, a distance swimmer himself coming off a pair of finals appearances at the 2024 European Championships in the 800 and 1500 free, has committed to join Cal this fall, and if he decides to come to Berkeley, Nathan would presumably follow the same timeline.
The two of them currently train out of the Loughborough University in England, and would likely only have one season of eligibility apiece in the NCAA.
Even if only for one season, the addition of both Wiffens would go a long way in reigniting Cal’s NCAA title hopes next season, as Texas and Indiana have taken over as the team’s to beat in college swimming.
Is there age limit in NCAA? If they are allowed to join NCAA, it means they are eligible. They are not breaking any rule.
That 1650 Record bouta get punted into the stratosphere
The Wiffen twins are good friends with Lucas Henveaux, who also trained at Loughborough with them for a while after being at Cal, so it is probably due to his influence that this is happening.
The Wiffen twins are at cal vs usc right now
I wanna ask for a photo but idk which is which
Get one with either! No one on your Instagram will know as well.
Amateurism aside, wildly underperforming distance program and makes no sense for Wiffen
Amateurism is kind of over, isn’t it? Agree on the weirdness of choosing to go to Cal though
even w/o judging the cal distance program, it is kinda strange he would change up his training base given the success hes had the past year
Going to be hard to come up with the April Fools article this year.
All other issues aside, it makes zero sense for Wiffen to join a distance program that’s weaker than the one he’s currently part of.
The rent-a-swimmer model has been around for a long time dating back to at least the height of the Auburn program in the 2000’s
The new transfer rules and NIL payments have made it even more widespread than it was just a few years, and not a whole lot teams are immune to it as far as I can tell.
It certainly isn’t your father’s NCAA anymore, for better or worse
Came here to say this. Texas, IU, UVA and more are all buying swimmers with NIL money. Cal has to do the same to compete in this new environment. This isn’t a Durden/Marsh/Huger thing…this is an NCAA thing.