Rediscovering his joy for swimming has enabled Paralympian #238 Josh Willmer to elevate to a higher level, and he remains on track to achieve his ambitions at LA28.
A despondent Josh approached Paris 2024 believing they would be his first and last Paralympic Games. Lacking motivation for the Para sport, he finished ninth in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 – just 0.07 seconds shy of a place in the final. Yet rather than marking the end of his Paralympic journey, the experience provided a much-needed reset that has rejuvenated the career of the Auckland-based Para swimmer.
“Swimming is a hard sport and at times it sucks,” explains Josh, who burst onto the scene by winning gold aged 17 in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. “I was probably not taking swimming as seriously as I should have and, in my mind, I was only going to compete at one Paralympics. It was not overly cool to finish ninth (at Paris 2024), but following the Games I had a word with myself and asked, ‘Did I give the sport everything, or did I have more in me?’ Competing at the Games made me realise I wanted more. It gave me the drive and motivation to continue.”
Following Paris 2024, Josh acknowledged he needed to make some changes and, more than a year ago, moved coaches – on the recommendation of Olympian Cameron Gray –to join Michael Weston at Coast Swim Club in Whangaparāoa. The move has proved transformative. Training alongside a group of elite non-disabled swimmers – led by two-time Olympian Eve Thomas – has provided the perfect tonic for Josh, who combines nine swim sessions with three gym sessions and two bike sessions each week.
Thriving in the high-performance environment, he says: “I have no excuses not to train properly, and we all keep each other accountable. It is great to be part of a programme designed for elite athletes. I may have a disability, but I’m not treated any differently from any of the other athletes.
“Michael too has been great. He’s laidback, but as he has shown, he has achieved some great results with the group, and he is good on an emotional level.”
Proof that the new environment was working became evident at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore. There, Josh smashed his national Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 record, clocking 1:11.08 in the heats. In the final, he could not quite replicate that performance, recording 1:11.61 to finish fourth — just 0.04 seconds shy of the podium — but he was encouraged by his efforts in Singapore.
“I did not execute as well as I would have liked in the final and that definitely cost me a medal,” admits Josh, a left-arm amputee. “There were definitely some work-ons, but to come away in 2025 ranked third in the world on time, having been ranked eighth in 2024, was huge.”
Training alongside a highly competitive group of non-disabled breaststrokers, he has continued to improve. At the New Zealand Swimming Championships in Auckland earlier this month, he lowered his national Men’s 100m Breaststroke SB8 record, posting 1:10.58 in the heats. Recording 1:11.46 in the multi-class final to take silver behind SB19 Para swimmer Daniel Smith was not quite the performance he was chasing, but after also setting a national Men’s 50m Breaststroke SB8 record of 32.65 during the championships, he took plenty of positives from the experience.
“I was hoping to record a 1:10 time and I would have loved to have swum quicker in the final, but I didn’t stick to the race plan, which is another work-on. The goal in the 50m breaststroke was to go as low as I did. I had a little side bet with Zyleika Pratt-Smith, one of the other swimmers at the club, and I pushed her close as she recorded 32.2 in her race.”
Josh is looking forward to more international challenges over the next couple of seasons and, crucially, believes he is well positioned to achieve his goals at LA28.
“I’m pretty happy at the moment and those Para swimmers currently ranked one and two in the world should be scared,” he says.
“There are always work-ons, but for me the most important thing has been finding happiness in swimming again.”
