Kane Follows Is Off To Paris
With less than a week until the Australian Olympic Swimming Trials, there will no doubt be plenty of agony and ecstasy from the Aussie swimmers battling it out in events stacked with so many talented athletes, trying to hit incredibly fast qualifying times.
One story of ecstasy from across the ditch at the New Zealand Swimming Championships in April, came from Funky Trunks sponsored athlete Kane Follows.
The 27-year-old from Dunedin, who swam for the University of Hawaii, has come close to making national teams but never quite cracked it. Until the night of Friday April 12, where the grind that he has stuck at for some many years finally paid off. Setting a national record in the 200m backstroke, Kane swam a 1:57.13 winning the national title and dipping under the A qualifying time for Paris by 0.37s.
After racing in Sydney, Kane is now back into his training regime, and is keeping his head clear by squeezing in a bit of golf with his mates. We caught up with Kane to hear in his own words what it was like before the race, the surreal moment when he realised he’d done it and what he’s doing to prepare for Paris.
FT: Can you talk us through the lead up to the 200 back and how you were feeling going into such a make-or-break swim?
KF: I’m pretty lucky that I’ve been able to swim at a few trials meets so I was going into it probably the most relaxed I’ve ever been. The week was going good, I had a good 100-backstroke and I had a good heat swim so I knew that the 200 was going to be there. Going into the night, I tried to have a nap during the day but the adrenalin was pumping pretty freely. This was definitely the most relaxed I’ve been for a race in a long time.
FT: Talk us through that moment you touched the wall and realised you’d done it?
KF: It was wild, I could hear the crowd the whole race and for the last 5 metres everyone’s heads turned to the wall to see if I’d done it. So when everyone went quiet I thought, ‘Oh no I haven’t done the time’ and before I could even look at the board I just heard everyone erupt. I quickly looked and it was a pretty surreal moment, you get goosebumps just talking about it. Swimming next to a couple of my good mates, makes it pretty special.
FT: Can you talk us through a 2back and any tactics you might adopt in the race?
KF: I think number one is, you always know the 200 is going to hurt, no matter what. It’s just one of those races, your legs are burning every time you swim it. For me it’s just about getting out as quickly as possible, building throughout the race, to that last 50, and give it everything you’ve got coming home.
FT: After such a swim, how do you re-focus and take your race to the next level for Paris?
KF: You don’t really want to change what’s working but then you also want to find little things to try and get better. My coach and I have enough time to make some changes we think will help to go faster in Paris, but majority of it is just keeping it the same. It’s kind of just put your head down and carry on.
FT: There are a lot of Trials going on around the world. Do you pay much attention to the times other swimmers are doing or do you like to block all that out?
KF: I’m pretty interested in swimming, I like to know what’s going on but I’m not going to be searching for any results. I’m not going out of my way to look at what people are doing, at the end of the day you can’t control what they’re doing and it’s all about the day. Whoever shows up at the Olympics on the day is who you have to race, it doesn’t matter how fast they’ve been in the past, there’s always a shot to beat them.
FT: How do you distract yourself from the constant pressure to perform and prepare for a Games?
KF: We’re pretty lucky here, it’s going to be our coach’s fifth Olympics so he’ll help us out as much as possible. It’s just about trying to stay as relaxed as I can and not overthink it. I’m a pretty laid back guy anyway, so it’s just doing things as normal leading in. I’m still going to be working, playing golf and doing the things I love. Once you’re a couple of days out, there’s not much you can do, the works already been done.
FT: Having swum for a few years now, how have you managed to keep going, especially in the longer distance events?
KF: I think I just love swimming. There’s obviously times when you’re not enjoying it, especially when things aren’t going your way, but I’ve just enjoyed it enough and I’ve got a good support crew around me that would tell me if it was time to hang up the togs. Racing internationally is just my favourite thing to do, so any chance I get to do that, I take it.
FT: Are your fitness or training abilities different now to what they were when you started?
KF: As you get older you definitely can’t hold on as good as you used to. Not that I’m old by any means, but it’s definitely funny. There’s not too many people in New Zealand that are older than me so I kind of get that tag of being the old man around the pool. We obviously do enough work to stay fit and I’m coming home the strongest that I’ve ever been able to in races, so I think we’ve just hit that good balance between quality and quantity.
FT: Do you find it mentally easier to focus, the older you get?
KF: Definitely, you start to figure things out. I used to beat myself up if I had a bad session but now you just kind of carry on and I feel like as I’ve gotten older I’ve got a lot better at that. You kind of realize that even though swimming is what I do and what I love to do, there are a lot of things outside of that that I also like to do. I’ve missed teams before and I’m still here to tell the story, you just carry on and enjoy every step.
FT: What is a typical training week for you, both in the pool and dryland?
KF: So we're in the pool nine times a week, usually four mornings, and then the gym. I do my own stuff on the side, like after training on a Saturday morning I always go play golf, it's just making sure I'm doing things outside swimming to keep myself active.
FT: We’re very excited to be making you a custom APEX Predator X with the silver fern logo for the Olympics!
KF: I got the picture of the suit the other day and it looks so sick. I'm excited to see them in person and be able to wear it. When I saw that it has the Olympic rings and the Silver Fern on it, I thought it looks pretty cool. And the black and silver suit, which is obviously the New Zealand colours, is kind of perfect.
FT: What about your favourite pair of Funky Trunks for training, what are you wearing at the moment?
KF: I like the briefs for training and the one that I’m really liking at the moment is the pair with the palm trees on them (Palm A Lot). It takes me back to Hawaii, the sun and the outdoors, we had similar togs over there. So they’re definitely my favourite ones that I’m rocking at the moment.
FT: Are they being packed for Paris?
KF: Oh yeah, they’re definitely being packed for Paris!
What an awesome story of perseverance and passion to get Kane on the plane to Paris. We can’t wait to see him race in his Silver Fern APEX Predator X.
To watch a snippet of Kane's interview go to @funkytrunks on IG.
You can follow Kane @kane_follows