Adam Wilkie, a 33-year-old marketing manager, is undertaking the ambitious challenge in memory of his father, who died from cancer in 2024. According to Adam Wilkie, he got back into swimming after his father's death to feel connected to him while grieving. David Wilkie, a British Olympic swimmer, won gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Olympics with that time, as reported by sources.
Adam Wilkie has never been an elite swimmer and has not swum seriously since he was 18, he stated. He also mentioned being scared of the deep end of the pool as a child.
The closest I get to any kind of sport at work is a standing desk.
To pursue this goal, Adam Wilkie has given up his job to train full-time with a professional coach. He will have access to facilities and sport science at Aquatics GB and will take advice from his father's former teammates, according to his plans.
The challenge is also a charity effort, with Adam Wilkie raising money for Sports Aid, which helps support youngsters with sports expenses. He hopes to travel to pools his father swam in, including in Sri Lanka, Scotland, Miami, and Montreal, as part of the journey, as he described.
This is going to be entirely different.
Adam Wilkie will begin the challenge by setting an initial time at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships this weekend. The target time of 2:15.11 remains formidable; it would still have made the top five at last year's British Championships, based on data. The world record for 200m breaststroke has been lowered by about 10 seconds since David Wilkie's time, according to swimming records.
Adam Wilkie is the son of David Wilkie, a British Olympic swimmer, as confirmed by family sources.
He would think I am mad because he knows how hard it was. He knows how hard swimming is and how much work he put in to get to that time. But I think he would be proud that his son is trying to do something to remember him.
I'm going to be getting up to six, seven, eight sessions of swimming a week.
It's going to be all-encompassing. It's going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. It's going to be incredibly painful at points and there'll be moments where I'll sit on the side of a pool being like: 'Why the hell did I decide to do this?' But I'm trying to pay homage to my father, keep his memory alive in my own mind and test myself. I'm testing myself against the yardstick of the greatest man I knew, who was my dad.
Most people who know swimming will be like, 'he has no chance'. But I want to try.