Daniel Wiffen has said he will not lose focus on a massive 2024 after creating history for Irish swimming with a world record in the 800m freestyle at the European Short Course Swimming Championships.
The 22-year-old completed a memorable championships with a third gold medal and a first-ever world best time for an Irish swimmer.
Wiffen told RTÉ Radio 1 this morning that he will be back in the pool training tonight ahead of the World Championships in February and the Olympic Games in Paris next July.
Speaking on Today with Claire Byrne, he said: "I'm just going to go back to training with the same mindset as before. It's definitely a possibility (to win an Olympic medal) and I'm training for it. I guess we have to see what happens on the day.
"I'll train tonight and carry on as before I swam at the competition.
"I did think I was going to go fast yesterday. Putting it in your head is one thing, putting it on paper is a lot different. It was amazing.
"I always say I love training more than racing and I think that is what the secret is to swimming fast. I love turning up to training at 5am.
"I have always dreamt of breaking a world record and I've done it. I'd say long course swimming has more prestige to it so I guess that is the next goal, to shift the world record we just did from the short course pool to the long course pool, and see what we can do."
Grant Hackett's 15-year-old record was broken by close to three seconds and Wiffen revealed he quickly received a message from the Australian great to congratulate him on the feat.
"He is obviously one of my idols and one of the greatest swimmers ever. To take down the last record of his on the books and for it to be the oldest world record standing is amazing. Three seconds off was just class. I was just amazed.
"He texted me after the race to say it was just a good time and to take it in because world records don't happen that often.
"I guess people say records are not forever but medals are so that's why people take in the medals more than the records I think."
The County Armagh swimmer also opened up more on being ill overnight, making the achievement even more remarkable.
He struggled to sleep during the night but said a change in tactic actually led to the world record time.
As well as the trio of gold medals, he also picked up the Best Male Swimmer award at the competition.
He explained: "I'm not sure if it was food poisoning or what was going on but I was throwing up at 1am until 5am. I had really bad stomach pain.
"It was more I was ready for it. I paced it all differently compared to my normal races because I was feeling sick at the start. Then I got into it well and it worked out.
"We came into the championships with the goal of just winning one medal and then we came away with three gold medals which is amazing to start off with it. The world record [led] to winning the male swimmer award because I think it was the only world record in the short course season in 2023. It's pretty cool to have that to my name."
The Magheralin man has set a target of improving on two swims in the previous World Championships last July which were slight disappointments in comparison to the European short course in the last week.
The competition takes place in Doha in February. He said he is looking for a medal.
"Hopefully it'll be a fast one," he said
"I'll be resting for that one. I'll be looking forward to it. I would just like to better what happened last time. Last summer I came away with two fourth places and going into this World Championships I'd like a bronze medal or better."
