Silver lining for Wilson at junior Pan Pacs

Two individual silver medals have highlighted the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships for NSWIS athlete Matt Wilson in Maui, Hawaii.

Hot and blustery conditions greeted competitors for the competition where Wilson swam to silver in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke. The 17-year-old also anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay to silver and won bronze as a member of the 4x100m medley relay team.

In April this year Wilson was a standout at the Australian national titles when he laid down a blistering 2.09.90 to win gold in the 200m breaststroke, a time that would have won him gold in Maui.

Instead Ippei Miyamoto of Japan had the honour of winning gold, standing atop the podium after recording a time of 2:10.51.

While he may have fallen short of his best 200m time, the 100m proved to be a closer finish for Wilson who was just 0.37 seconds off his Australian age group record.

After leading at the half way mark, Wilson fell just shy of the pace set by American Jacob Montague, who swam away in the second half of the race to win in 1.00.68, just over two tenths of a second quicker than Wilson.

Despite having posted faster times than the ones he swam in Hawaii earlier in the year, Wilson left the event content with his performances, noting the difficult conditions faced at the meet.

“The conditions were very difficult at times with the heat and very strong winds making it even harder t swim fast times,” Wilson told the Blue Mountains Gazette.

“I would have liked to have swum a bit faster, but I did the best I could on the day and I’m very proud to represent Australia again and come away with two individual silvers and two relay medals.”

The next assignment for Wilson will be the NSW Higher Schools Certificate and then the Australian Short Course Championships in November.