Kenneth To

Background

After moving to Australia from Hong Kong at the age of 2, To started swimming at the age of 5 at his local pool. He was originally scared of the water, but by age 12, had made rapid progress through his primary school swimming program.^[2] Growing up, To had a very successful junior career, winning medals at both the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney and the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.^[3] In 2009, he came into the swimming spotlight when he broke Ian Thorpe's decade-old Australian record in the 16 years 200m individual medley, swimming a time of 2:04.31.^[4]

2010

At the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, To burst onto the international swimming scene. He won gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, silver in the 50m freestyle, 200m medley and 4 × 100 m mixed freestyle relay, and bronze in the 100m freestyle and 4 × 100 m mixed medley relay.^[5]

At the 2010 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Maui, To won gold in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, and silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays.^[6]

At the 2010 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships in Brisbane, To made his breakthrough onto the senior Australian Swimming Team. He won gold in the 100m medley, silver in the 200m medley and bronze in the 100m breaststroke, earning selection to compete at the 2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m).^[7]

At the 2010 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Dubai, To placed 5th in the 100m medley and 6th in the 200m medley.

2011

At the 2011 Australian Swimming Championships in Sydney, To regained selection on the Australian Swim Team. He won silver in the 200m medley, earning selection to compete at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, To placed 7th in the 200m medley. In the heats of that event, he had a breakout performance, clocking 1:59.02 to rank 3rd overall going into the semifinal.^[8]

At the 2011 FINA Swimming World Cup series, To placed 6th in the men's overall scoring on a total of 31 points.^[9]

2012

At the 2012 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide, To narrowly missed out on earning selection to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He placed 4th in the 200m medley and 9th in the 100m freestyle, largely because 7 weeks earlier he had required an operation to remove his appendix.^[10] Nonetheless, To was selected to compete at the 2012 Oceania Swimming Championships.

At the 2012 Oceania Swimming Championships in Nouméa, To won a total of 7 medals in a return to form. He won gold in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 200m medley, 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, and silver in the 100m butterfly and 400m medley.

At the 2012 FINA Swimming World Cup series, To claimed a big prize in winning the men's overall scoring on a total of 195 points.^[11] At the Dubai meet, he set a new Australian record for the 100m medley in 51.43.^[12]

At the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) in Istanbul, To won silver in the 100m medley and bronze in the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays. His time of 51.38 in the 100m medley was only 0.17 off the winning performance of American superstar Ryan Lochte, and set another Australian record in that event.^[13]

2013

At the 2013 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide, To won silver in the 200m medley and 4 × 100 m medley relay and bronze in the 100m breaststroke. At the meet, he also competed in the heats of the 100m freestyle, clocking the equal 4th fastest time from heats, semifinals and finals. His performance in that event and the 200m medley earned him selection to compete at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships.

At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, To won silver as a butterfly heat swimmer for the 4 × 100 m medley relay team for Australia. He also swam as a heat swimmer in the second leg of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, which placed 4th in the final, and placed 13th individually in the 200m medley.

At the 2013 FINA Swimming World Cup series, To placed 5th in the men's overall scoring on a total of 192 points. At the Berlin meet, he set a new Australian record in the 200m medley in 1:52.01, and similarly at the Doha meet in the 100m medley in 51.19.^[14]

2014

At the 2014 Australian Swimming Championships in Brisbane, To won gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay and placed 4th in the 100m freestyle. His performance in the 100m freestyle earned him selection to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, To won two medals - one gold as a heat swimmer for the 4 × 100 m freestyle, and one silver as a breaststroke heat swimmer for the 4 × 100 m medley relay teams for Australia.^[15]

Upon completion of the Commonwealth Games, To withdrew from competing at the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in order to undertake a L4-L5 microdiscectomy on an injured back which had been severely affecting his training and performance. He was aided through this traumatic event by the emotional support of his good friends Patrick Teys, Simon Berry, Bradley Kanikevich and Elly Coyne. Allowing for post-operative rest and recovery, this ruled To out of the 2014 FINA Swimming World Cup and 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m).^[16]

Long Course

Event	Time	Meet	Location
100m Freestyle	48.58	2013 Australian Swimming Championships	Adelaide
200m Medley	1:58.72	2013 Australian Swimming Championships	Adelaide
100m Butterfly	52.56	2013 Australian Swimming Championships	Adelaide
100m Breaststroke	1:01.58	2013 Australian Swimming Championships	Adelaide

Short Course

Event	Time	Meet	Location	Notes
100m Medley	51.19	2013 FINA Swimming World Cup	Doha	AR
200m Medley	1:52.01	2013 FINA Swimming World Cup	Berlin	AR
100m Freestyle	46.57	2013 FINA Swimming World Cup	Berlin
100m Butterfly	50.19	2012 FINA Swimming World Cup	Adelaide
100m Breaststroke	58.05	2013 FINA Swimming World Cup	Doha