Summary
Adam Wilkie, son of Olympic gold medalist swimmer David Wilkie, is attempting to match his father's 1976 world record time in the 200m breaststroke 50 years later. Adam, who is not a professional swimmer, has paused his job to train full-time and aims to complete the challenge within a year to honor his late father and raise money for charity.
Key Facts
- David Wilkie won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Olympics with a time of 2 minutes 15.11 seconds.
- Adam Wilkie is 33 years old and has never been an elite swimmer before this challenge.
- Adam has quit his marketing manager job to train full-time, expecting to swim 6 to 8 sessions per week.
- He plans to begin the challenge by setting an initial time at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.
- Adam’s goal is to raise money for Sports Aid, a charity supporting young athletes.
- David Wilkie died of cancer in 2024, and Adam is doing this challenge to remember him.
- The world record time has improved by about 10 seconds since 1976, but David’s old time would still rank highly in recent British competitions.
- Adam wants to visit some pools his father swam in, including locations in Sri Lanka, Scotland, Miami, and Montreal.
