Inside Worlds Prep with Daniel Wiffen: Closing Out Training Camp in Turkey

With the 2022 World Championships fast approaching, many athletes are entering the latter phases of their training cycle and wrapping up training camps.

Daniel Wiffen, who recently became the fifth-fastest performer of all-time in the 1500 freestyle, documented the final days of the Loughborough training group’s training camp in Antalya, Turkey.

The Loughborough training group is an elite professional swimming group based in Loughborough, England, with the distance group headed by Andi Manley. Outside of the distance group, the training group is also home to Adam Peaty, Marie Wattel, Max Litchfield, Joe Litchfield, Anna Hopkin, and Louise Hansson to name a few of the international stars in the group.

In the video, Wiffen recorded a number of gym and pool sessions alongside fellow distance swimmers including 2021 400-meter freestyle (SCM) World Champion Felix Auboeck, Will Bell, and Fleur Lewis.

The Thursday morning set documented by Wiffen was a long aerobic set that was aimed to work on raw endurance, as shown below.

• 900 – 300 swim, 150 pull x3
• 2x:
  • 3×100 @1:30 with fins, first lap 15m underwater
  • 6×50 @:55 DPS, 15m gold
  • 1×100 @1:45 kick, 50 pink/50 clear
• 3×2000 FR swim

The long set was followed up by an evening session that involved a few 100s at 400 race pace, and a few 100s at max effort.

With the camp finishing up, Bell noted how well the camp had gone for the group as a whole, which may give some insight into the group’s preparation for the upcoming world championships.

In April, Wiffen threw down a monster 14:34.91 in the 1500 to claim the top time in the world until a week later when German Florian Wellbrock, the favorite to win world champs, clipped the time with a 14:34.89. Wiffen also currently sits at 7th in the 800 freestyle this year with his 7:44.45, just over four seconds behind Sam Short’s world-leading 7:40.39 from the Australian team trials.

Wiffen will look to compete for medals with the likes of reigning world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri, reigning Olympic champion Bobby Finke, Mykhailo Romanchuk and Wellbrock in the 1500 free, while also being an outside contender for the 400 free.