He is yet to turn 17, but Springwood's Matthew Wilson rocketed up the Australian men's rankings in breaststroke last week after nailing multiple personal best (PB) times at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Singapore.
Relishing the chance to take on the world's best under-18 swimmers, Wilson shone in his strongest event, the 200m breast, winning a silver medal for his country.
"I've always liked swimming at the big meets because they seem to bring the best out of me and many other swimmers," he said at home on Thursday.
"Some swimmers don't deal with the pressure quite as well as others, but I thrive on it."
The Winmalee High School student qualified for the final by breaking his own Australian age record set in April by almost a second.
He shaved off another 1.13 seconds in the final, posting a new PB of 2:11:23, to finish behind Russian Anton Chupkov (2:10:19) and ahead of Japan's Ippei Miyamoto (2:11:59).
That result saw him ranked the number one male 200m breaststroke swimmer in Australia (open level) and fourth on the Australian all-time top 10 list, behind Christian Sprenger, Brenton Rickard and Jim Piper.
Wilson also broke his own Australian age record in the men's 100m breaststroke heats in Singapore by just under one second (1:01:55) and came fifth in the final (1:01:69), elevating him to ninth in the Australian rankings.
Another PB came in the 50m breaststroke heats (28:87) and in a tight-finishing final where all swimmers recorded times below 29 seconds, Wilson finished 13th.
But more medal contributions for Australia were to come from Wilson.
He swam the breaststroke leg of the 4x100m mixed relay final, which Australia finished second in behind Russia (both nations broke the world junior record time).
And on the final day of competition, he swam the breast leg of the 4x100m men's medley relay final, helping Australia to bronze.
The 30-strong Australian team won the junior world championships with nine gold, six silver and three bronze, ahead of the USA and Russia.
Wilson said making a time in the 200m breaststroke final in the 2:11s was his main personal goal in Singapore and he was stoked to achieve that.
"I was hitting the times in training that I needed to get there," he said.
"Anton's an extraordinary swimmer and a really nice bloke. He swam an outstanding third 50m [lap] in the final and pulled away from the rest of the field.
"I put my PBs down to hard work and focusing on some technical things at training - making a few little changes has made a difference overall."
Wilson said the atmosphere within the Australian team was great during the meet.
"There was a lot of harmony amongst all the swimmers and we had great support from friends and family in the stands, including my mum."
The teenager who is still growing, said he will take a lot of confidence from Singapore, but won't be fast-tracking his goals for the rest of this year or next.
"No, not really - I've still got to keep realistic and patient.
"I've got the short course season from November and then the [long course] nationals in April, which will probably have a new, faster qualifying time for the 200m breaststroke.
"My big aim is still to make the Australian swimming team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games."