Paris 2024
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Story source: Swimming Australia
The 21-year-old finally snagged the individual medal he had trained seven years for with a silver medal in the men’s 200m individual medley SM10. And now Echuca, a Victorian town, will be most famous for the Murray River, paddle steamers … and Pearse.
The regional Victorian kid, who moved to Melbourne as a teenager to pursue a dream and who trained in the dam on his family’s dairy farm during COVID, touched in 2:12.79 behind Italy’s Stefano Raimondi (gold, 2:10.24) with Ukraine’s Ihor Nimchenko claiming bronze (2:13.73).
Pearse had his right foot amputated following an accident with a ride-on mower at the age of two said: “I moved away from home at 14 to pursue this goal in making the Paralympics.”
Image description: Col Pearse standing on the podium at the Paris 2024 Paralympics holding his silver medal.
While he won a bronze medal in the 100m at the last Paralympics in Tokyo when he was still a teenager, he was disappointed when he narrowly missed a podium place in the French capital. He finished fourth with his time 57.24.and his teammate Alex Saffy claimed the bronze in the Men's S10 100m Fly.
“You don’t come this far just to get fourth place,” Pearse said. You come this far to give it your all and walk away with a medal and be the best version of yourself.
“After that 100m fly, I had a lot of evaluation to do.
“Rather than getting caught up with my emotions, go back to the drawing books and look at what I did wrong and use that for the 200m IM.
“I’m so incredibly proud and I still am and forever will be of Alex Saffy for winning that bronze medal.
2017 Honour Roll Member
Col Pearse - Swimming
Age 20. Classification S10.
Echuca, VIC
Studying: Bachelor of Social Media in Melbourne
Coach: Matt King, Melbourne
Interesting fact: Sport Access Foundation inaugural Grant recipient + Swam in his parent's country dam during COVID lockdowns.
Results:
2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London. Won Bronze in 100m Butterfly
2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Won Bronze in 100m Butterfly S10.
2022 World Para Swimming Championships in Madeira. Won Silver medals in both 100m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley.
2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Won Gold medal in 100m Butterfly.
2023 World Para Swimming Championships in Manchester. Won Bronze medal in 100m Butterfly and Silver in 200m Individual Medley.
2024 Paris Paralympics. Silver medal in the men’s 200m individual medley SM10. 4th place in the Men's 100m Fly S10.
Get Involved
Your donation will go towards providing financial assistance and support to enable children with a disability to participate in sporting activities. Every dollar goes direct to the grant recipients to help with the cost of their sport, including modified equipment, carer costs, transport and fees.
