What’s better than one silver medal?
For Col Pearse at the World Paraswimming Championships in Portugal, it’s two, with the young swimmer from Bamawm reaching new heights for his country.
Pearse officially delivered Australia a double of silver medals in Madeira after hitting the wall second in the men’s S10 100-metre butterfly final, his pet event.
Qualifying fastest in his heat, Pearse upped the ante in the final, notching up another medal for Australia in the pool to round out a personal best tournament.
Pearse also managed a new oceanic record of 57.17 in the final, but was just pipped by Stefano Raimondi of Italy for the gold.
The colour of the medal will matter little to Pearse, however, who achieved his best showing on the world stage to date.
The result added another silver to Pearse and Australia’s medal tally at the world championships — Pearse’s second campaign — after previously standing on the podium in the 200-metre individual medley.
In that event, the Aussie superstar wiped a full four seconds off his heat time to push Raimondi in the IM final for his first silver of the tournament.
After a three-month break post Tokyo Paralympics and amid a raft of changes, Pearse told the Riverine Herald that he was thrilled to pick up the double.
“I was quite nervous leading into the World Championships,” Pearse said.
“After Tokyo I had a big three months off. I changed all my training, moved squads, gym program, nutritionist; I changed pretty much everything after Tokyo.
“Leading into the competition, I haven’t actually swum that well this season, so to really swim better than Tokyo, I was stoked.
“To swim an oceanic record, two silver medals and swim faster than I did at Tokyo, I’m just over the moon with the results.”
The IM truly tested the limits of Pearse over the 200 metres, who said it was the hardest race he had done to date.
“It bloody hurt; it was by far the most painful race I’ve ever done,” Pearse said.
“I remember before racing it, my coach gave me a rev-up 20 minutes before hand, and basically the message was just go hard or go home.
“I was just hoping for a personal best, and it was only my first swim in the competition. There were a lot of nerves, a lot of expectation on myself to perform well.”
The two silvers will be added to an expanding list of accolades, including a bronze in the 100-metre butterfly at the Tokyo Paralympics and the same medal achieved at the 2019 World Paraswimming Championships.
Pearse’s exploits in Portugal would also draw the congratulations of a fellow superstar in Brownlow Medallist Ollie Wines, in a video posted through social media.
Pearse’s double of medals was among 15 for Australia to go with seven golds and nine bronze as the Green and Gold finish seventh on the medal tally on completion of the week-long competition.
Italy topped the rankings with 27 gold medals, the United States next best with 24 gold and Brazil third.
The 18-year-old’s attention will now turn to his maiden Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham, with the games set to begin on July 28.