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Glasgow: Kai Taylor’s stunning 200-metre freestyle victory from an outside lane in front of his famous swimming mum Hayley Lewis helped Australia shatter its all-time swimming gold medal record from a single Commonwealth Games.
The medal rush meant the Dolphins banked more than $1.2 million in prizemoney from billionaire Gina Rinehart to cap their tremendous campaign.
As Meg Harris collected her fifth and sixth gold medals of the Games to join Susie O’Neill (1998), Ian Thorpe (2002) and Emma McKeon (2022) as the most decorated Australian swimmer at a single Commonwealth Games, the Dolphins were on fire once again on the final night of competition.
Australia finished the six-day meet with an astonishing 37 gold medals from 56 pool events, alongside 16 silver and 23 bronze, comfortably ahead of South Africa (six gold), Scotland (five) and England (four).
Kyle Chalmers and Ben Armbruster could not be separated after the semi-finals of the men’s 50m butterfly on Tuesday and remarkably, they dead-heated again in the final to share gold on Thursday morning (AEST), while Cam McEvoy claimed bronze. Harris (50m freestyle), Lakeisha Patterson (100m freestyle S9), Brittany Castelluzzo (200m butterfly) and Sam Short (1500m freestyle) also struck gold as Australia’s extraordinary week rolled on against hapless opponents whose depth just wasn’t up to standard.
Short matched Lani Pallister’s haul of three individual gold medals, while Chalmers equalled Ian Thorpe’s Commonwealth Games tally of 10 gold medals after prevailing equal winner of an event he does not specialise in. The Dolphins went 1-2-3 in the women’s 50m freestyle and men’s 50m butterfly in consecutive races, while Shayna Jack broke down in tears after her bronze medal in the one-lap dash – her final race as an Australian representative.
Australia’s women’s and men’s 4x100m medley relay teams then completed an unprecedented clean sweep of the relay events, capping a campaign that exceeded even the Dolphins’ own expectations given the absence of Kaylee McKeown and an underdone Mollie O’Callaghan, who battled a back injury throughout the meet.
But the defining moment of the night belonged to Taylor. Swimming from lane one, the 22-year-old blasted through the opening two laps under world-record pace in audacious fashion before hanging on for the biggest victory of his career, finally stepping out of the considerable shadow cast by his famous mother.
Lewis, a seven-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, pulled off a famous victory in 1991, 13 years before Kai was born, in the 200m freestyle at the world championships in Perth. She became the first Australian to win a world title since 1978 when she stormed home from lane eight. What is it about the family and outside lanes?
It was a similar story at Australia’s swimming trials in 2023 when Taylor won from lane eight to qualify for his maiden Australian team, prompting a viral celebration from Lewis in the stands. While the reaction was slightly more restrained this time, it was no less emotional as Lewis was overjoyed and Taylor’s coach Dean Boxall saved his biggest celebration of the week for last.
Lewis won the same event at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.
“Growing up, I was trying to make a name for myself,” Taylor said. “I’m super stoked to be making a name for myself and getting my own individual medals now.
“If you’ve got a lane, you’ve got a chance. I backed my training and just thought, ‘you know what, I’m just not going to have any regrets’. I don’t want to look back and think, ‘oh, maybe I could have gone out harder’. If I went out too hard and died, then at least I gave it a shot.
“It’s a dream come true. Mum was just so happy for me. She sees all the sacrifices I’ve put in, all the hard work. She knows what it’s like to be up there, and I think to see me finally achieve that exactly like her, she’s just so proud of me.”
There were touching scenes in the mixed zone afterwards when Boxall, rarely seen lingering around the media area, marched over to give Taylor a big hug. He could not be prouder of rising star, who he coaches at St Peters Western in Brisbane.
Asked for a quote, Boxall politely declined, before reappearing 10 seconds later and telling the media: “Like mother, like son!”
If only Taylor’s father, Greg, could have been there to witness the exhilarating result. On the day his son won his maiden individual Commonwealth Games gold medal, Greg was at a Glasgow hotel nursing an injured knee. He watched the race on television before Lewis broke the news to her son after the medal ceremony.
“I thought he was here,” Taylor said. “I’m pretty devastated he couldn’t be here. It’s a little bit upsetting. I know he would have been watching from back home. I think he’ll be pretty devastated that he couldn’t be here. I asked mum, ‘Where’s Dad?’”
Rinehart’s medal incentive scheme remained a talking point throughout the week, although swimmers had been directed by Commonwealth Games Australia not to publicly discuss the payments.
Pallister was the biggest financial winner, collecting $80,000, ahead of Jenna Forrester ($70,000), Alex Perkins ($70,000), Short ($65,000) and Harris ($60,000) from a total bonus pool of $1,272,500 that will be distributed in the coming days.
“I’ll feel pretty good when it hits my bank account,” Short said after his 1500m freestyle victory over Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen by 2.59 seconds. “That’s why I didn’t want to give up there [at the end of the race]. A bit of cash on the line.
“I’ll try and not spend it on something dumb.”
Chalmers added: “I am obviously super grateful that we are able to receive that. It definitely is back of mind when you’re racing and performing, especially as an older athlete. I’ve got a mortgage and a young family, so that’ll go towards my mortgage repayments and maybe buy Astrid [his daughter] some one-year-old clothing.”
When asked if he was surprised that athletes weren’t meant to, or allowed, to thank Rinehart, Chalmers said: “I’m not going to comment on that”.
Harris, who was again preferred ahead of O’Callaghan in the relay, said of her historic haul: “It’s definitely special. Most of them were in relays, so I wouldn’t have been there without a team effort.
“I’m cooked.”
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Tom Decent is the chief sports writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
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