“I just really want to make that Olympics like mum and I know I can do it. Last year because I think I had a bit of a breakthrough, there were a lot of comparisons to mum.
Kai Taylor and his mother Hayley Lewis.Credit: Getty
“But I never felt like it was a bad thing, I honestly thought it made me happy. To be able to keep that generation going and that swimming ability going is really special.
“There’s never, ever been any pressure from that side to try and achieve what she’s achieved. She’s always said to me, it’s a completely different time, this is my own life, and I’m making my own way through swimming.”
Taylor’s breakthrough, thrusting him into the final of the 2023 World Championship Australian trials, was unexpected.
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An underwhelming showing in the 200m freestyle semi-finals cost him a place in the decider, only for Kyle Chalmers to withdraw and hand the 20-year-old a spot from lane eight.
Unburdened, free of pressure, he thrived, leading at every turn to win in one minute 46.25 seconds.
That experience, Taylor said, proved he belonged among the sport’s upper echelon. His challenge was replicating that mentality.
“I trusted my training and I knew I had the potential, but I think definitely that I put a lot more pressure on myself going into trials last year than I ever have before,” Taylor said.
“I think that was a really good thing, honestly, because I’d rather have put all that pressure on myself then and learnt from it, and now I can go into these trials and really give it a go.”
Taylor will swim in the Olympic trials, hosted in Brisbane from June 10-15, having impressed at the recent “Paris-themed” open training session at St Peters Western Swim Club.
But Taylor is yet to reach his peak.
“It can come down to the tiniest little things – the turns, the dive, the finishes, it can all come down to that – so it’s really just still a lot more grinding to go but fine-tuning a few things,” Taylor said.
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“Before I was sort of in the dark a little bit, I hadn’t made [the team] before, and I was really stepping up for the first time to see if I could do it.
“Now that I know I can do it, it’s a lot less pressure on me. Finding those times outside of training to really switch off and disconnect from swimming I think is a really big key.
“I just love racing so much, and I want it more than anything, so I guess that’s where the pressure comes into it.”