18 Mar 2010

14 year old selected for Australian Commonwealth Games swim team

6:09 am on 18 March 2010

Yolane Kukla became the youngest female to make a senior Australian swim team in a generation after trouncing reigning world champion Marieke Guehrer in the 50 metre butterfly at the Commonwealth Games trials.

The stocky 14-year-old stunned the field in the non-Olympic event to win in a time of 25.92 seconds ahead of Guehrer (26.28) at the Sydney Olympic Park.

After producing the shock result, the short, muscular swimmer nicknamed "Yo Yo" bobbed up and down the water overcome with excitement.

Not long afterwards, she backed up her effort by qualifying third fastest in a very open field for the 100 metre freestyle final.

Kukla is the youngest female swimmer to make a major Australian team since a 13-year-old Jodie Clatworthy earned a spot at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.