Bermudian swimmer Sam Williamson has opened up about the monumental effort that saw him smash the national record and hit the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark, admitting that just months ago, the feat felt "pretty much impossible."
The 22-year-old produced a breathtaking performance in the Boy’s 200m Individual Medley at the Harbour Long Course Championships, stopping the clock in a blistering 2:06.59.
The landmark swim narrowly dipped under the strict Commonwealth qualification standard of 2:06.89, while also reclaiming the national record from teammate Elijah Daley, who had lowered the benchmark to 2:06.68 just seven days prior.
Speaking after his historic race, Williamson revealed that a challenging phase in the pool had initially clouded his expectations heading into the 2026 season.
"Looking at that time since January, and thinking about where I was in swimming, it was pretty much impossible," Williamson admitted. "I was coming off not a great year of swimming, performance-wise.
"But as the months got closer, I was cutting down time. I got the CAC (Central American and Caribbean Games) time in April, but I was still about one-and-a-half to two seconds away from the Commonwealth time."
The turning point came at the recent Bermuda National Swimming Championships, where the margin began to shrink rapidly.
"At Nationals, I swam a little bit faster, and I was only about 0.6 of a second away from that Commonwealth time. So I knew I had a good chance. This was the last meet in Bermuda, so I said I might as well just give it a go, see what happens."
Without a previous blueprint for swimming at such a relentless pace, Williamson’s strategy in the lane shifted entirely toward technical execution rather than chasing the clock.
"It’s a difficult question if I felt I was on record pace, as I’d never swam that fast in my life before. I didn't really know what that pace feels like," he explained. "But I knew from my Nationals swim two weeks ago that I was not very far off, and all I had to do was fix a couple of my skills.
"During the race, I was just fixing my skills, and I knew if I did that, I would give myself a really good chance to get that time."
The drama intensified at the finish wall. Due to technical issues at the National Sports Centre pool, the swimmers were left completely in the dark regarding their official times.
"Especially at the end of the race, there was no scoreboard because it's broken at the moment," Williamson laughed. "I had literally no idea what the time was. Nobody at the pool knew what time I had done officially. It took a couple of minutes, but then everyone did find out, which was really, really good."
For the versatile youngster, hitting the standard represents a massive career milestone that transcends the immediate swimming community.
"I do feel very accomplished with it. This is the first really major Games that a lot of people recognize outside of the sport. They know what it takes, that achievement, and the level of competition at the Commonwealth Games.
"I proved myself wrong—that I could actually get down to that qualification standard. And getting my record back off Elijah is always very nice! But he is always there to push me and keep me on my toes."
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