Springwood's Matt Wilson was the youngest male in the Australian team at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii late last month, but that didn't stop him from making a big impact at the nine-nation event.
The 15-year-old breaststroker won a bronze medal and smashed three Australian age records he'd set at the Australian Championships in Sydney last April.
In his strongest event, the 200m breaststroke, Wilson finished fourth in his heat with a personal best time of 2:15.88 and shaved off another 1.17 seconds in the final to improve one position and earn a medal and another age record for his country.
He finished only one second behind Japan's Ryuya Mura and Rintaro Okubo, who are both 17.
Wilson arrived home feeling satisfied last Tuesday, telling the Gazette the result was "the greatest experience" of his junior representative swimming career.
"There was a very friendly, united and supportive team atmosphere and it was fantastic to race against some of the best juniors in the world," he said.
"I would like to thank my coach Adam Kable for his dedication and ongoing support and for preparing me so well for the meet.
"I had done a lot of technique and pace work in training and worked really hard on my back-end speed, so I was confident that I could swim faster than I did at Nationals.
"I was nice and relaxed in the heat swim in the morning and I felt like I could go even faster in the evening final.
"I just gave it everything, going out harder than I usually do, but still coming home fast and it paid off."
Wilson broke his own Australian age record in the boys' 100m breaststroke heat with a time of 1:03.19 to finish eighth and equalled that time in the 'A' final to also finish eighth.
He also swam the breaststroke leg in the boys' 4x100m medley relay, where Australia finished fifth.
Australia finished third on the medal tally with two golds, nine silvers and five bronzes, behind runners-up Japan and winners USA.
Things are looking bright for the Winmalee High School student, who recently accepted a scholarship offer from the NSW Institute of Sport.
"It's been 12 months since I moved to the High Performance Squad at SOPAC (Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre) and I'm loving it and looking forward to what lies ahead.
"That swim has moved me up a lot in the senior rankings in Australia to seventh [in 200m breaststroke].
"This will definitely help me in the immediate future to keep a spot on the junior Australian team and then as a longer term goal, to make my first senior team in the next few years."
