South West swimming sensation Kyle Lee claims double gold at Australian Open Water Swimming Championships

Australind swimming powerhouse Kyle Lee has made a promising bid for the Olympic qualifiers, claiming a national title at the Australian Open Water Swimming Championships in Busselton last weekend. The Australian Dolphin claimed gold in the men’s 5km event, his second win for the weekend after an impressive anchor leg in 4x1500m mixed freestyle relay that led his team to victory. In a photo finish, Lee was stroke for stroke with 10km winner Nick Sloman but managed to gain the slightest separation through the inside lane of the home stretch to finish just 0.06 seconds ahead on Sloman and claim the title. His first individual national title, Lee is still aiming to head to the Paris 2024 Olympics, for which the 10km race is the only open water event. Despite pulling up fifth for the 10km in Busselton and missing out on a bid for the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Israel, Lee still has the potential to compete in the Middle East should he choose to fund himself. The Israel World Cup is the first in a string of qualifiers for open water swimming Olympics hopefuls. The 20-year-old will be looking to return to Paris after competing there mid-last year as part of the FINA Marathon Swim World Series, telling the West Australian “Paris would be a dream come true”. For the women, fellow Aussie Dolphin Maddy Gough showed her class taking gold in the women’s 5km with a time of 57:12, a deserving win after claiming bronze in the women’s 10km on the opening day of the competition. In the mixed campaign, team North Coast — featuring West Australian talent Rosie Wilson, Chloe Truscott, Jack Wilson and Lee — charged to victory, more than a minute clear of silver medallist team Japan with Queensland’s Yeronga Park completing the podium. The stellar performance from the Perth stars saw the North Coast team awarded the C.B. Rickards trophy as champion club of the 2023 Championships, finishing on a massive 331 points to Yeronga Park’s 275 second place effort.