LumaLanes Performance of the Week: Matthew Wilson’s 200 Breaststroke

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr/Swimming Australia Ltd.

This week’s LumaLanes Performance of the Week takes us down to Australia to a swim from the 2017 Victorian Open Championships, where 18-year-old Matthew Wilson continued to establish himself as one of the up-and-coming breaststrokers Down Under. Swimming in the finals of the 200 breast, Wilson posted a personal-best time of 2:09.65 to take the win.

That performance marks the second time that Wilson has been under 2:10. The first came this summer, when Wilson finished just outside of the Olympic qualifying standard in the 200 breast to miss a spot on the Rio Olympic team despite winning the event at his country’s Olympic Trials. Because of that, Australia went without any athlete in the 200 breast at the Rio Olympics. The last 200 breaststroke medal Australia earned on the Olympic stage in the 200 breast was in 2008, when Brenton Rickard won a silver medal behind Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima.

Wilson also narrowly missed making the Aussie Short Course Worlds team in the 200 breastin November, but he has won a silver medal at the 2015 Junior World Championships and has broken several Australian age group records over the years. He also beat out Olympian Jake Packard head to head in both the 50 breast (28.11 to 28.12) and in the 100 breast (1:00.54 to 1:00.98) last week. These swims should give Wilson some major confidence heading into the next Olympic quad.

Congratulations Matthew Wilson on earning Swimming World’s Performance of the Week!

Special Thanks to LumaLanes for sponsoring Swimming World’s Performance of the Week.

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