Australind swimmer Kyle Lee takes out South32 Rottnest Channel Swim at just 19 years old

Australind swimmer Kyle Lee has taken out the most high profile open water swim WA has to offer just a few days before his 20th birthday. Lee, who turns 20 on Wednesday, was the first swimmer to make it to “the rock” in this year’s South32 Rottnest Channel Swim, edging out teammate Reilly Kennedy by just 12.26 seconds. After finishing third in the three previous races, the 19-year-old slashed six minutes off his previous best time to finish with an impressive time of 04:05:19.02. Lee — who was named the Shelley Taylor-Smith medallist as Swimming WA’s open water swimmer of the year in 2021 — said he tried to be more patient this year to give himself a chance at a big finish. “I felt pretty good during the swim, I tried to pace myself in the beginning and not go out too hard, so I still had some energy at the end,” he said. This was Lee’s fourth attempt at the gruelling 19.7km swim and he said he was thrilled to take the victory at such a young age. “I was really happy crossing the finishing line and getting to congratulate my teammate who had an amazing swim,” he said. Lee said although he had won the race as a solo swimmer, he could not have done it without his team. “Thank you to my coach Ian Mills, my squad and my support crew for all the help leading up to and during the race, and a huge congratulations to Riley Kennedy for such a great swim and close race,” he said. Lee — whose family still lives in Australind while he spends his weeks in Perth for training and university — was named in the junior Australian team after top-four finishes in the 10km and 5km races at the 2021 national championships. He is now too old to make the junior squad but said he hoped to make the open team. “It would be awesome to get selected (in the open team), but I don’t know if I am up for that level yet, we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “I’m not too sure (how I’ll go), I’ll just give it a crack and see how things turn out.” The WA star is in an incredible vein of form after once again taking out gold in the Busselton Jetty Swim earlier this month with a record-breaking time of 38 minutes and 59 seconds.