Sam Williamson became the first athlete to compete for Bermuda at the 2023 Pan American Games on Saturday morning.

The 19-year-old took to the water in heat one of the 100 metres breaststroke and finished second in 1min 08.13sec, just over a second behind race winner Mark-anthony Thompson, of Bahamas.

Williamson was disappointed with the time, which was more than two and a half seconds outside the standard he set when qualifying for the Games and left him 26th of the 28 competitors.

“It was a good opening swim but it was a little way off my personal best but we’ll see what we can do later in the week,” he said

“I was expecting a little better, not too much better, but a little bit better than that.

Williamson was competing for the first time at senior level at a major Games and admitted that nerves did play a part in his performance.

“I was nervous and I just need to focus on the swimming. It’s not going to get any easier.”

With his next event, the 200 metres freestyle, taking place on Sunday, Williamson has a chance to get over his disappointment quickly and knows what he has to do in the next 24 hours.

“I’ll swim down now, head back to the Village, grab some food and maybe grab a nap depending on how I’m feeling. The plan is just to take it as easy as I can.”

Williamson will be joined in action on Sunday by Emma and Jack Harvey, who will compete in the 100 metres butterfly and 200 metres backstroke respectively.