Hayley Lewis’ son Kai Taylor wins 200m freestyle trials to book spot at World Championships

She stole the hearts of a nation when dominating the Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old, but last night Hayley Lewis was a spectator as her son stole the headlines.

A chip off the old block, the teenage kid of swimming legend Hayley Lewis has produced a boilover to emulate his famous mother and qualify for the Australian swim team at the world championships.

More than three decades after his famous mother defied the odds to beat American superstar Janet Evans and win the 1991 world championship from the outside lane, Kai Taylor turned potential disaster into potential gold to win the 200 metres freestyle at the Australian trials.

With his parents up on their feet cheering him on from the stands, the 19-year-old wonderkid stormed to victory in 1:46.45 to seal his place in the team for next month’s world titles in Fukuoka, Japan.

Kai Taylor of Australia reacts after winning the Men's 200m Freestyle Final. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

“My Mum, even though she‘s a legend of the sport, she just wants me to be happy and do whatever I want to do,” Taylor said.

“She just sort of said to me, ‘go do your thing, just stay calm.

“But she did, however, mention that great things happen from lane eight.”

Lewis – who became a household name in Australian swimming when she won five gold medals as a 15-year-old at the 1990 Commonwealth Games – was right again, but her talented teenage son did get a lucky break.

He initially didn’t even qualify for the eight-man final after misjudging his pace in his morning heat and qualifying ninth.

Devastated at thinking he had blown his chance, he was thrown a lifeline when Kyle Chalmers – who had qualified fastest – pulled out of the final.

Because Chalmers already has such a busy program, with the 100m freestyle and up to five relays, King Kyle had no intention of swimming the individual 200m in Japan even if he had won in Melbourne so pulled out.

Former Australian swimming great Hayley Lewis (centre R) and husband Greg Taylor (centre L) cheer on their son Kai Taylor to victory in the men's 200m freestyle final (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

“He sent me a message this morning and I thanked him a lot,” Taylor said.

“I think that he was always going to pull out but the fact that he did and it meant that I got to come through and swim, it means the world to me.”

Trained by master coach Dean Boxall, Taylor emerged as a bolter to make the team for Fukuoka when he won the Australian championships at the Gold Coast in mid April.

He admitted that he felt the weight of expectation going onto the trials but had learnt a valuable lesson through his rollercoaster day which started disastrously but ended in triumph with a place in the individual 200m and the 4x200m relay and the 100m still to come.

“I was feeling a little bit tense, a little bit of the pressure coming off my win at nationals,” Taylor said.

“But going into the final, having a little bit of the pressure taken off me, I just sort of said to myself ‘who cares, If it doesn‘t go well, it doesn’t go well, and if it does, it does.’ And I think that really helped me.

“Having moments like that where things didn‘t go my way was a really good learning experience for me, especially when something like that happens next time. I know from experience now what I can do to make sure that I swim like this morning doesn’t happen again.”

In other races, Kaylee McKeown posted the third fastest time in history to win the women’s 100m backstroke in 57.50, with Mollie O’Callaghan second.

Isaac Cooper won the men’s 100m backstroke in 53.46, Abbey Harkin took out the women’s 100m breaststroke in 1:07.20 and veteran Cam McEvoy got his hands on the wall first in the men’s 50m butterfly in 23.07.

AUSSIE GOAT’S ROPE-A-DOPE MASTER PLAN TO PEAK IN PARIS

Australian swim fans shouldn’t be alarmed if Emma McKeon isn’t at her absolute best at this week’s Australian trials.

It’s not because she’s lost any of her hunger, or that she’s got lazy in her training after already achieving everything in the sport, or that at age 29, she’s past her peak.

None of that holds water.

It’s because McKeon’s absolute best is so damn good that Australia’s greatest Olympian is having to play the long game to give herself the best chance at one last shot at more glory at next year’s Paris Olympics.

While McKeon is still expected to make the Australian team for next month’s world championships in Japan, she isn’t going to repeat her incredible feat from the Tokyo Olympics, when she won seven medals, including four gold.

But that’s nothing to fret over, at least according to her master coach Michael Bohl, who is overseeing her plans for Paris.

“We should see some good solid performances from here, but my expectation is that next year she’ll be a bit better performing athlete,” Bohl said.

“She can still swim solidly here but I think, next year, hopefully, fingers crossed, will be a nice year for her.”

If that sounds like swimming’s version of rope-a-dope, then that’s because it’s the exact same strategy.

Emma McKeon won four gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: Al Bello/Getty Images

While McKeon won the 50m-100m freestyle sprint double in Tokyo, she has never won the world long-course title in either event, but that’s not a bad thing.

The last reigning female world champion to win the 50m gold at the Olympics was Inge de Bruijn in 2004. The last 100m winner was Kristin Otto way back in 1988, so it’s no wonder McKeon wants to avoid the curse.

“Next year is the one that counts. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re giving her every chance to get the best out of herself when that comes around,” Bohl said.

“I‘m not saying you go slow this year, but you’ve got to be on, you’ve got to be in that striking distance range … it’s just keeping her competitive. And then next year hopefully we’ll see a nice little shift in performance.”

Making the Australian team isn’t a shoo-in anyway, let alone winning, even for a champion like McKeon, particularly in the freestyle sprints.

One of her teammates is Mollie O’Callaghan, the reigning world 100m champion who beat McKeon for the gold at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Coach Michael Bohl chats with Emma McKeon. Picture: Delly Carr

Plus, there’s also Bronte Campbell, Shayna Jack, Meg Harris, Madi Wilson and Cate Campbell, who is skipping the trials altogether to focus on Paris.

McKeon has entered both freestyle and butterfly sprints. She needs to finish top two to secure an individual berth but even if she misses out, she should still make the relays, with Bohl confident her best is still to come.

“With a 29-year-old athlete, you‘ve just got to be strategic with what you’re doing with them,” Bohl said.

“We could have easily got her in last year and this year just absolutely hammered her, but I think you wouldn’t have had the results next year that you’re after.

“So you just need to keep that emotion and keep the motivation and the desire to keep pushing hard.

“She’ll be 30 at the next Olympics if she makes it. She’s seen Michael Phelps still perform well as a 31-year-old, so there’s people before that have done it.”

KING KYLE’S LIFELINE TO SON OF A GUN

The teenage son of swimming legend Hayley Lewis has been given a second shot at making the Australian team after Kyle Chalmers threw him an unexpected lifeline.

One of the most exciting young talents in the sport, Kai Taylor is bidding to follow in the slipstream of his famous mum and qualify for next month’s world championship in Fukuoka, Japan.

Needing to finish in the top four, possibly even the top six, in the 200m freestyle to at least make the relay, Taylor looked to just have missed out after he finished ninth in Wednesday’s heats – with only the top eight going through to the final.

Kai Taylor competes in the men's 200m freestyle swimming at the Australian World Championship Trials (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

But the 19-year-old got a lucky break when Chalmers – who qualified fastest in a time of 1:46.97 – withdrew from the final.

King Kyle has no intention of swimming the individual 200m at Fukuoka because he already has a massive program with the 100m freestyle and up to four relays.

But because he’s a proven performer on the big stage and already shown that he’s in great form with his morning heat, he pulled out of the final because he’s done enough to deserve an automatic place in the 4x200m relay.

Elijah Winnington, the reigning 400m world champion, finished second fastest in the heats so will go in the final as favourite but it’s a wide open race.

With his mother and father Greg Taylor watching from the stands, Taylor has a great chance of going faster when it matters after mistiming his morning heat.

He missed the top eight by just 0.11 after hitting the wall in 1:48.37 after the heats were delayed for almost 20 minutes because of a technical malfunction during the backstroke, which meant the swimmers had all cooled down after their pre-race warm ups.

Taylor went almost two seconds quicker when he won the recent Australian national title, so will be expected to turn on the speed in the final.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion and world record holder Kaylee McKeown qualified fastest for the women’s 100m backstroke in 59.59, just ahead of versatile teenager Mollie O’Callaghan. McKeown has already qualified for the team in 200m medley.

Brad Woodward led the way in the men’s 100m backstroke, and Abbey Harkin was the fastest qualifier for the women’s 100m breaststroke, with Chelsea Hodges and Jenna Strauch both missing because of illness.

Pop star Cody Simpson qualified second fastest for the men’s 50m butterfly, just behind three-time Olympian Cam McEvoy but because it’s not an Olympic event the top two aren’t guaranteed places at the world titles, unless they qualify in another event.

Originally published as Hayley Lewis’ son Kai Taylor wins 200m freestyle trials to book spot at World Championships