David Wilkie’s son chasing his iconic world record time from 1976 Montreal Olympics
Reaching his father’s time will be hugely challenging – some might say impossible.
“Most people who know swimming will be like, ‘he has no chance’,” Adam says. “But I want to try.”
But Adam says the 12 months ahead are about more than strokes, leg kicks, minutes and seconds.
Having not swam seriously since he was 18, he only got back into the sport after his father’s death to “feel connected to him” as he grieved.
Adam hopes to travel to some of the pools his father swam in, including in Sri Lanka – where David was born to Scottish parents, in Scotland itself, Miami and even Montreal.
He will also raise money for Sports Aid, who help support youngsters with the expense that come with chasing sporting dreams, and take advice from his dad’s former team-mates.
“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.”