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Adam Wilkie on attempting to match his father’s world record
Ever wondered how you’d measure up against the world’s elite?
For most, the answer would likely be: not well.
But what if your challenger is your own father, the source of your inherited talent? Even if you’re a marketing manager rather than a professional swimmer, that familial connection has to count for something, right?
“The closest I get to any kind of sport at work is a standing desk,” says 33-year-old Adam Wilkie.
“This is going to be entirely different.”
For those who recognize the surname, David Wilkie remains an iconic figure in British Olympic history.
With his distinctive moustache and long hair tucked beneath a swimming cap, he captured gold in the 200m breaststroke at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Now, Adam is dedicating a year to attempting to match his father’s record-setting time, 50 years later, in a fundraising effort and in memory of David, who passed away from cancer in 2024.
“He would think I am mad because he knows how hard it was,” Adam says. “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.”
American Mark Spitz (right) and Wilkie were two of the iconic swimmers of the 1970s. Wilkie’s gold made him the first British man to win Olympic gold in the pool in 68 years
The time in question: two minutes 15.11 seconds.
While the record has since been surpassed by approximately 10 seconds, such a mark would still have placed in the top five at last year’s British Championships.
Adam has left his job to train full-time with a professional coach. He will have access to facilities and sport science resources at Aquatics GB, despite never having been an elite swimmer.
He even admits to being afraid of the deep end as a child.
“I’m going to be getting up to six, seven, eight sessions of swimming a week,” says Adam, who will commence the challenge in earnest by setting an initial time at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships this weekend.
“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.”
Wilkie ‘probably one of Britain’s greatest’ – Goodhew
This Sporting Life with David Wilkie from 2020
Reaching his father’s time will be a monumental challenge – perhaps insurmountable.
“Most people who know swimming will be like, ‘he has no chance’,” Adam says. “But I want to try.”
However, Adam emphasizes that the next 12 months are about more than just strokes, kicks, minutes, and seconds.
Having stepped away from serious swimming at 18, he returned to the sport after his father’s passing as a way to “feel connected to him” during his grief.
Adam intends to visit some of the pools where his father competed, including those in Sri Lanka (where David was born to Scottish parents), Scotland, Miami, and Montreal.
He will also raise funds for Sports Aid, an organization that supports young athletes with the financial burdens of pursuing their sporting aspirations, and seek guidance from his father’s former teammates.
“Doing this challenge has allowed me to go back through his life,” Adam says.
“My dad retired at 22, long before I came along, so it’s a part of his life that I didn’t necessarily know that much about.
“I’m hoping I’ve got a lot of his swimming genes, so we’ll see as the year unfolds.
“I want this story to demonstrate how amazing swimmers are, how hard this sport is and how much effort, time and work these guys and girls put in to get to where they are.
“And I want to demonstrate how good my dad was.”
Peaty in action at Aquatics GB Swimming Championships live on BBC