DIDSBURY — Now that the Canada Summer Games are behind him, Didsbury swimmer and Olds Rapids head coach Wesley Wilks is gearing up to make the Special Olympic nationals in Medicine Hat next summer.
The Canada Summer Games, held in Newfoundland, ran Aug. 8- 25. He was scheduled to return home on Sunday.
The highlight for Wilks occurred Aug. 11 when he won bronze in the 50-metre (m) men's Special Olympics breaststroke.
“This bronze medal feels like gold to me," Wilks said afterwards. "I have worked so hard over the last three years. It’s been really tough, I haven’t had much coaching and I’ve been training myself for three years on my own.”
Wilks also placed seventh in the 100m men's Special Olympics freestyle race. He placed seventh in the 100m freestyle, eighth in the 50m backstroke and ninth in the 50m freestyle.
“I just barely missed out on finals for my 50 free, and then in my 100 back, I got sixth. But in that one I dropped time, so I was happy,” he said.
He cut his time in the 100m backstroke by 0.76 seconds.
“I haven't been able to drop on that race for eight years, so I was very happy to beat that previous time,” he said during an interview with the Albertan.
The competition was really tough, Wilks admitted.
“The times have really changed from the times that I produced when I was a teenager,” he said.
Actually, those times wouldn't have helped me get into finals for several of the races.
“It's really changed. I was even talking to some old coaches that were there in 2022.
“We looked at the times from prelims for some of the races in 2022 and they wouldn't have made finals for 2025 so overall, the sport’s just getting faster and better.”
Wilks said a new generation of athletes coming in is fuelling that change.
“There's about eight athletes aging out for our category, so there's going to be a new wave of athletes all getting faster and better and stronger,” he said.
This was Wilks’ last Summer Games as an athlete.
At age 24, he has aged out of competition at that level. However, he’s hoping to get back to the Games as a coach.
“I hope to be coaching in the future ones, because that way I can still be at the Games, and I can bring in the next generations and help them succeed,” he said.
Wilks has one swimmer in the Olds Rapids swim club that he thinks has the talent to make it at the Canada Games level.
“There's a guy that's beating me in 50 free,” he said. “And I know if he was here at the Canada games, he would have made finals and I think he might have podiumed in the 50 free. That's how much confidence I have in him.”
That man is currently 18. Wilks declined to name him.
“He knows who he is,” he said.
Newfoundland and Labrador not only made the news by hosting the Canada Games, but also for several wildfires that were burning throughout the province during that time.
Wilks was asked if the fires and their resulting smoke affected him in any way.
“It's interesting, because most of the time the wildfire smoke wasn't actually affecting us,” he said, noting the swimming venue was indoors.
“All the local committees have made sure we were safe and all the local firefighters were doing a really great job,” Wilks said, adding that rain on Aug. 15 probably helped keep the fires at bay.
The swimming venue was made all the more exciting and memorable by how loud it was in there.
“This swimming (venue) was the loudest atmosphere,” Wilks said.
“I watched a little bit of basketball today, and the volume inside the pool was three times the volume from inside the basketball arena.
“It was loud, like it was so loud that we could hardly hear each other within 30 centimetres of each other, so we were talking very loud. Some of us lost our voice several times.
Wilks said whole experience was really memorable.
“It was really exciting,” he said. “There were lots of great times going on.
“People broke Canadian games records and prelims, some of them. Broke them in finals, we had several people get gold medals on our team.”
He said the competition was so fierce that two swimmers ended up tied for a gold medal.
“It was a really exciting experience and a really exciting atmosphere,” he said. “(it was) probably the best one I had so far.” “You know, in 2017 I had three silvers and bronze. In 2022, I had one bronze. And this last one, I got a bronze. So I was able to medal in every single kind of Games I went to.
“And this one, I wasn't actually sure how well I would do,” he added. I didn't think I was going to win anything, so when I won something, I was pretty proud.
“So I thought, honestly, these Games were really good and a really great last moment, honestly, for my swimming career to finish off really well.
“I’ve got other Special Olympic competitions that I hope to go to, but this was a really great one to finish off on. It was really fun.”