Mitchell Kilduff (born 29 February 1996) is an Australian

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

swimmer. He was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in swimming. He achieved 5th place in the 200 metre freestyle event at the 2012 Games.

Early life

Kilduff was born on 29 February 1996, and is from

Carlton, New South Wales Carlton is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlton is located 15 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Carlton lies across the boundary of two loc ...

. He was diagnosed with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

when he was six years old. During his early school years, he faced considerable challenges. Following that, he was

home schooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

. In 2009, he attended

Endeavour Sports High School Endeavour Sports High School (abbreviated as ESHS) is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located in Caringbah, a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Austral ...

. , he is a student at

Kingsgrove North High School , motto_translation = May We Excel , city = Kingsgrove , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Sydney , type = Public, co-educational day school, secondary school , established = , edu ...

while mentoring other swimmers with autism.

Swimming career

Kilduff is an S14 classified swimmer, who has set world records in several events including the long course 50m butterfly, 50m freestyle, the 100m butterfly, the 400m freestyle, and the source course 50m butterfly events in his classification. He is a member of SLC Aquadot and his coach is

Gavin Stewart Gavin Stewart (born 27 April 1957) is a British financial services executive and former rower. He competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics. He spent 27 years in financial regulation for the Bank of England, Financial Se ...

, who began coaching him in 2009. He has competed against able-bodied athletes. Kilduff started swimming in 2006, and began taking lessons in 2007. In 2009, he was training seven days a week. At the 2010 Australian national championships, Kilduff earned two gold medals. The following year at the same competition, he earned a total of seven medals, three of them gold. In 2011, he had nine swimming training sessions a week, with each session lasting about two hours. At the 2011 Australian Age Multi-Class Championships hosted at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

pool, he won seven gold medals. Kilduff first represented Australia in 2011, making his debut at the

Arafura Games The Arafura Games is a unique, inclusive multi-sport event where athletes with a disability compete in the same program as able-bodied athletes. Competitors from around the world compete in the week-long games held every 2 years in Darwin, Northe ...

. At the Italian-hosted 2011 Global Games, he won a pair of silver medals and four gold medals. His silver medals came in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay event and the 200m freestyle event where he had a time of 2:03.12. He earned a gold in the 50m freestyle event in a time of 25.78. He was selected to represent

n Paralympics in swimming. He did not medal at the 2012 Games.

Personal bests

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kilduff, Mitchell 1996 births Living people Male Paralympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers from Sydney Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia S14-classified para swimmers People educated at Endeavour Sports High School Sportspeople with autism Australian male freestyle swimmers Australian male backstroke swimmers Australian male butterfly swimmers Australian male breaststroke swimmers Australian male medley swimmers 21st-century Australian people Sportsmen from New South Wales