Nineteen-year-old Matt Wilson of Springwood has taken out the bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke during the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Tokyo – beaten out by the current world record holder, Ippei Watanabe of Japan.
“It wasn’t the race I had hoped for, but I’m still proud I got to represent Australia,” Wilson said of his personal best time of 2:08.22, behind the gold medal result of 2:07.75.
Wilson’s third place on Sunday August 12 was behind second-placed Zac Stubblety-Cook, (a fellow Australian who ran down Wilson in the final 50) and Japan’s Ippei Watanabe.
“I did swim a PB in the 200, however, I wasn’t as relaxed through the first half of the race as I should have been and that cost me in the last 50.”
Wilson’s other event – the men’s 100 metre breaststroke – saw him come in sixth at 59.83. The sub minute finish was three quarters of a second off the front place getter Koseki Yasuhiro.
“I was pretty happy with placing well in the 100 and clocking another sub-minute time, as that is not my main event and I am racing against dedicated sprinters.”
Wilson swam personal best times in both the 100 and 200 and was “thrilled and very proud to come away with a bronze medal and share the podium with my team mate”.
“It was an amazing atmosphere with a fantastic crowd and an honour to represent my country as always. It’s been a long time since Australia has had two competitors in the 200m breaststroke at this level and it’s exciting moving forward towards the 2020 Olympics. The lessons learned from this meet and other major meets are all valuable in my preparation for the ultimate goal of representing Australia at the Olympics.”
The tournament was held from August 9-13.
Wilson will travel to China, Singapore and Tokyo later in the year to compete in the Asian leg of the World Cups.
“The more international racing experience I can get, the better. It allows me to practice my racing skills against the best in the world and to learn from them. After that, it will all start all over again in preparation for next year’s World Championships in South Korea.”
- with Ilsa Cunningham
