Kayla Han is an American competitive swimmer specializing in freestyle and individual medley events. She is a 800 m freestyle Champion in 2023 World Junior Championships. In 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, she won silver medalist in the 400-meter individual medley. At the 2021 U.S. Open Championships, Han achieved a fourth-place finish in the 400-meter individual medley and placed seventh in the 800-meter freestyle. She won the B-final of the 400-meter individual medley in Wave I of the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials where she was the youngest swimmer to compete at 13 years of age. A video of the race posted by NBC Sports on YouTube became the most viewed video from the year's Olympic trials.
Early life
Han was born May 31, 2008, in Brea, California. She competes for the Carmel Swim Club.
Swimming career
2018—2020
Over the course of 2018 and 2019, Han accumulated six USA Swimming national age group records for the girls 10 and under age group. Her first record was in the 200-yard individual medley in December 2018 with a time of 2:13.33. The next four records she accumulated over the months of January, February, and March in 2019, earning three more records in the 200-yard individual medley as well as one record in the 500-yard freestyle. She culminated her record breaking streak in May 2019 by achieving her first national age group record in long course meters in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:28.70. Her accomplishments as a 10 year old were noticed by Swimming World and SwimSwam, with Swimming World giving her their "Up & Comers" honor for the month of June 2019 and SwimSwam awarding her the female Age Group Swimmer of the Year Swammy Award for the 2019 year. Further performances in 2020 that put her at the top of her age group, then the 11—12 year old age group, in multiple events though not yet breaking age group records received additional recognition from SwimSwam, who awarded her the Swammy Award for the female Age Group Swimmer of the Year for 11—12 year olds for 2020.
2021: US Olympic Trials B-final winner at 13 years of age
2021 CA Speedo Grand Challenge
At the 2021 California Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine, California, in May 2021, Han set three additional national age group records, this time for the girls 11—12 age group and over the span of one weekend. On the first day of competition, 28 May, Han broke the 400-meter freestyle national age group record set by Claire Tuggle with a time of 4:17.65. The following day, Han broke a second national age group record. She swam a 4:50.70 to break the 400-meter individual medley record set by Elizabeth Beisel in 2005 by over 4 seconds and qualify for the 2020 US Olympic Trials. The third day of competition, 30 May, Han broke a third national age group record. This time she broke the 800-meter freestyle record set by Isabella Rongione in 2012. Han's time of 8:50.58 was almost 5 seconds faster than the previous record.
2020 US Olympic Trials
Han was the youngest swimmer to qualify for the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials, held in Omaha, Nebraska, and postponed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at 12 years of age.
In the Wave I preliminary heats of the 400-meter individual medley, on June 5, Han swam a 4:56.66 and advanced to the B-final. She won the B-final later in the day with a time of 4:51.08 at of age and did not advance to Wave II of the Olympic Trials. NBC Sports posted a video clip of Han's win on its YouTube channel. The clip turned out to be the most watched video clip from the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials in swimming on YouTube with over 940,000 views, beating out clips of swimmers who had previously competed in Olympic Games and won multiple Olympic gold medals including Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky, and Caeleb Dressel. By August 2022, the video had garnered over 1.2 million views and remained the most watched clip from the trials.
Her performances leading up to and at the 2020 Olympic Trials were noted by Swimming World who, in July 2021, gave her their "Up & Comers" age group swimmer of the month honor for her achievements.
2021 Speedo Summer Championships
At the 2021 West Speedo Summer Championships in Irvine, California, in August, Han set personal best times in a number of events including the 400-meter freestyle where she swam a 4:14.52 and ranked as the third fastest female American 13 years of age to swim the race in history.