Brought up in a swimming household, Kane Follows always had the dream of becoming an Olympian. Follows has fond memories of his early days swimming, where he was lucky enough to interact with New Zealand representatives and Olympians 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 earned CSCAA All-American honours in the 200-yard backstroke in 2019, becoming 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, reaching the 200m backstroke semi-final. He competed at the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Melbourne, placing 14th in the 200m backstroke, and was a three-time finalist at the 2023 Swimming World Cup.

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 joined Neptune Swim Club to train with Lars Humer as part of the Swim Dunedin programme.

After years of flirting with the qualifying mark for a pinnacle competition, Follows qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games by breaking the New Zealand record in the 200m backstroke at the 2024 New Zealand Swimming Championships.

At 27 years old, Follows made his Aquablack debut at the Paris 2024, where he placed 21st in the 200m backstroke and 33rd in the 100m backstroke.

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