The son of Aussie swimming legend Hayley Lewis has pulled off a remarkable performance to take out the 200m freestyle at the Australian World Championship Trials in Melbourne.
Kai Taylor, who is the national 200m champion, but repeated the dose in a race he wasn’t even meant to be competing in.
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Earlier in the day, Taylor qualified ninth in 200m free, meaning he would have missed the final, only for Aussie champion Kyle Chalmers, who was seeded No. 1 for the final, withdrew.
It’s believed Chalmers was putting down a time in order to qualify for the relay at the World Championships, but will focus on other individual races including his pet 100m event.
Chalmers’ time of 1:46.97 was easily the fastest in the heats as the only swimmer to go under 1:47.00.
But it was the lucky break that Taylor needed, storming home from lane 8 to claim the victory in a time of 1:46.25, ahead of Alexander Graham (1:46.68) in second and Thomas Neill (1:46.82) in third. Both Taylor and Graham qualified for the world championships with the top four finishers in the final going under the ‘A’ Cut time of 1:47.06.
The win sliced a massive four-tenths of a second off Taylor’s personal best.
But he has a long way to go to match it with the best in the world. Taylor’s time ranks 17th fastest this year, while Korea’s Sunwoo Hwang sits on top with a time of 1:44.61 set at the 2nd Gwangju National Swimming Championships on Tuesday.
Taylor admitted he was originally devastated to have misjudged his heat swim so badly.
“This morning was a disappointing swim and there was a little bit of tears but fortunately Kyle pulled out which got me an eighth spot and that took the pressure off me a little bit after my win at nationals,” Taylor said.
“I think he was always going to pull out but the fact that he did, it meant the world to me and I will definitely be sending him a message.”
If storming home from lane 8 sounds familiar, it’s exactly what his mother did as a 16-year-old to claim gold in the 1991 World Championship and upset American legend Janet Evans.
And Lewis was on hand to see her son qualify for his first World Championships.
He said she had given him some sage advice before the race began.
“Even though she’s a legend of the sport she just wants me to be happy,” Taylor said.
“She told me to do my thing, be calm, but she did however mention that great things happen from lane eight.”
Swimming Australia shared video of Lewis going absolutely nuts in the stands. S
CODE Sports’ Lachlan McKirdy tweeted: “Kai Taylor, son of Hayley Lewis, wins the 200m freestyle from lane eight after only making the final because Kyle Chalmers pulled out. Incredible story!!”
SMH’s Tom Decent said: “What a great story.”
Two-time Olympian Meagan Nay commented: “1.46.2 for Kai Taylor, lane 8 babehhhhh! Shouldn’t have favourites but he’s a big favourite of mine!”
In other races, Kaylee McKeown swam the third fastest 100m backstroke time in history, just 0.5 seconds off her own world record.
Cameron McEvoy claimed the 50m butterfly in his first PB (23.07) in seven years. But a blanket finish saw Shaun Champion (23.46), Matt Temple (23.47) and Cody Simpson (23.48) finish in an incredibly tight touch for second.
