Western Australia’s Kyle Lee has claimed his place among a golden wave of young open water swimmers with a Midas touch.

A day after sitting an accountancy exam in his hotel, Kyle touched the wall just a fingernail in front to give Australia victory in the mixed 4x1500m relay at the World Championships in Doha in February 2024.

Decided in a photo finish, the quartet of Moesha Johnson, Chelsea Gubecka, Nick Sloman and Lee had a nervous wait on the pontoon before the result was confirmed that they had just won Australia’s first relay world title.

The maturing Kyle is fast earning a reputation as one of open water swimming’s best finishers.

In a private battle with Italy’s Domenico Acerenza, Lee moved to Acerenza’s hip and then shoulder before heading inside to get his hand to the board first in 1:03.28.0 with Italy 0.2 seconds behind and Hungary third in 1:04:06.8.

At the time Kyle said: “It was the team that put me in the best possible position … I couldn’t ask any more of them.”

“I just tried to stay calm and it is so hectic in that finishing shoot … I guess I got lucky on the touch.”

Earlier at the championships – where Australia nailed down four open water spots for the Paris Olympics – Kyle claimed his place in Paris by finishing in the top 10 in the 10km race.

He finished ninth after executing his race plan to perfection, holding his position in the lead group by owning the space in front of him to work his way through the field.

Born in Zimbabwe, Kyle migrated to Australia with his family at the age of six and grew up in the small community of Australind, 170km south of Perth in Western Australia.

Moving to Perth to start university, he began training with coach Ian Mills at North Coast Swimming Club.
In 2020, aged just 17, he finished third in the 19.7km Rottnest Channel Swim in a time of 4hrs 25mins 30secs.

He was third again in 2021 and returned in 2022 to win the Rottnest swim, shaving more than 20 minutes off his 2020 time. In 2023, he was second, but finished in under four hours.

At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Hungary, Kyle finished eighth in the 5km race and an impressive fifth in the 25km event – just 27 seconds behind the gold medallist, Dario Verani of Italy. He also claimed two silver medals in the Marathon Swim World Series.

In 2023, he won the 5km event at the Australian Open Water Championships, with a time of 55:20.90, and also competed at the Australian Swimming Trials, finishing fifth in the 800m.

POD POP UP STAT: Kyle is studying for a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Western Australia and swims up to 70km a week in training.