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In the boys' 200-yard medley relay of the Florida High School 1A State Championships, the 16-year-old self-educated athlete, Kaii Winkler, set the tone for the finals with a stunning 18.98 freestyle anchor split.
Then, approximately 10 minutes later, he won the 200-yard freestyle event in 1:34.18, shattering Caeleb Dressel's previous high school record, of 1:34.69 set nine years earlier.
Winkler finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 44.00 seconds and second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:36.78 seconds in his first Florida High School 1A State Championships in the fall of 2021.
He set a record for being the fastest American 15-year-old swimmer ever on the long course of the 100-meter freestyle in March of 2022 at the Florida Piranhas Senior.
In the way-too-early rankings for the class of 2024, Kaii Winkler, an Eagle Aquatics club swimmer, was placed as the No. 3 recruit. breaking Caeleb Dressel's record is the cherry on top.
Who is Kaii Winkler?
Kaii Liam Winkler, an American competitive swimmer, was born in 2006. He has a 4100-meter freestyle relay world junior record. He won gold medals in the 4100-meter freestyle, and 400-meter medley relays, and a silver medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.
Winkler was only starting out. He broke Ryan Hoffer's 2014 record for the 15-16 NAG in the 100 free final with a time of 42.52. In the process, he also beat Ryan Murphy's Florida high school record of 42.95, which stood for 10 years. After a record-breaking victory, there should have been a great celebration.
Winkler finished fourth in the 200-meter freestyle b-final on the first day of the four-day 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii. He had a time of 1:50.81 after swimming a personal best of 1:50.07 in the preliminary heats.
Winkler is now only a few tenths off of David Nolan's 2011 national high school record of 42.34. He beat his previous best of 43.04 in March, which marked his first time in under 43 seconds.
What's next for Winkler?
Kaii Winkler is building on his success from the Junior Pan Pacifics in August when he won silver in the 50-meter freestyle (22.50) and contributed to the 400-meter freestyle relay team breaking the junior world record. He helped the United States beat the previous record by barely one-tenth of a second by anchoring the relay with a 48.95.
Winkler is carrying on the momentum he gained in the Junior Pan Pacifics in August.
Kaii Winkler was tied for the 20th position in the 50-meter freestyle on day two of the 2022 US Open Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. His time of 22.97 seconds qualified him for the c-final.
In the evening, he ran at a faster time — 22.82 — to win the c-final. He qualified for the b-final the next day by swimming a 1:50.97 in the 200-meter freestyle preliminary heats, placing eleventh overall.
He won the b-final with a time of 1:50.26, which was 2.88 seconds slower than a-final victor Jake Mitchell. He improved his time during the evening finals session.
