Brought up in a swimming household, Kane Follows always had the dream of becoming an Olympian. Being in and around the pool has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. Follows has fond memories of his early days swimming, where he was lucky enough to interact with New Zealand representatives and Olympians as a youngster at Mt Eden Swimming.  

Follows has had an affinity for backstroke events since he was eight years old. After winning a couple of age group titles in his teenage years, Follows headed to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa to swim collegiately while studying Business Management and Marketing. While training and studying in Hawai’i, Follows became a CSCAA All-American in the 200-yard backstroke in 2019, making him the first from his college swim team to do so since 2003.

Follows made his international debut at the 2019 World University Games in Napoli, where he was a semi-finalist in the 200m backstroke. He ventured over to Europe again in 2022 as part of the team that raced the Mare Nostrum circuit. Follows wore the fern again at the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Melbourne, where he placed 14^th in the 200m backstroke. He was a three-time finalist at the Swimming World Cup in 2023, with a best finish of fourth place in the 200m backstroke at the Berlin stop.  

Having spent his youth based in Auckland at Mt Eden Swimming, Follows moved to North Shore Swimming Club upon his return from college whilst completing a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Teaching at AUT.

In early 2023, he made the move down to Dunedin to join Neptune Swim Club and train with Lars Humer as part of the Swim Dunedin programme.

After years of flirting with the qualifying mark for pinnacle competitions, Follows qualified for his first Aquablack team by breaking the New Zealand Record in the 200m backstroke at the recent New Zealand Swimming Championships.

Follows is most looking forward to racing the best swimmers in the world and taking his place in Olympic history when he debuts in Paris as Aquablack #287.

Favourite Quote – “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.”

💥 Qualified for Paris 2024 & broke his first New Zealand Record - 200m backstroke

Setting the pool on fire with a scorching time of 1:57.13, Kane reset Gareth Kean's longstanding New Zealand Record and qualified for the Paris Olympic Games

💥 Three time finalist at the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup

Competing at two out of the three stops on the 2023 World Cup circuit, Kane made three finals appearances including an impressive fourth place finish in the 200m backstroke in Berlin

💥 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Top 16 - 200m backstroke

2022 World Swimming Championships (25m) 14th place in the 200m backstroke (1:53.11)

💥 2019 World University Games Semi-Finalist - 200m backstroke

2019 World University Games finalist in the 200m backstroke, placing 14th overall (2:00.09)

💥 2019 CSCAA All-American - 200yd backstroke

A seventh place finish at the NCAA Division I Championships saw Kane become the first CSCAA All-American at the University of Hawai'i swim team since 2003