Australian and Hong Kong record holder Kenneth dies at age 26

Australian and Hong Kong record holder and recent addition to the Gator Swim Club High Performance Group Kenneth To died at the age of 26, confirmed SwimSwam.

The death was revealed for the first time on social networks by his training partners via social media late Monday night, American time, then confirmed by relatives.

According to an article in the South China Morning News, citing a statement from the Hong Kong Sports Institute, "To have felt bad" in the locker room after Monday's training session and was taken to the hospital where he died.

To begin training under Gregg Troy at the University of Florida in January and participated in a Florida Keys boot camp alongside graduates Caeleb Dressel, Jan Switkowksi, Aliena Schmidtke, Tom Peribonio, Corey Main and Enzo Martinezamong others, last week.

To hold national records both for his home country of Australia – where he lived from two years until the end of 2016 – and for his native Hong Kong. He set Australian records of 100 and 200 IM SCM in 2013, which are still the same. The first remains as the current record of All Comers.

Since deciding to represent Hong Kong internationally from January 2017, To has defined more than a dozen national standards, including LCM 50/100 free, 50/100 breast and 200 IM standards, as well as SCM 50/100/200 free, 50/100 chest, 50/100 flies and 100/200/400 IM standards.

"The Hong Kong Sports Institute was deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of Kenneth To's elite swimmer," the HKSI told the Morning Post in a statement.

"He was extremely popular and loved by his teammates and competitors. Kenneth was recognized as an exceptional person, warm, funny and kind. His sudden disappearance is a huge loss for local sport. "

Entering the international scene almost a decade ago, winning several medals at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympic Games and the 2010 Junior Pan Pacific Championships. He made his first Senior Australian National Team this year and then ranked fifth and sixth in the 100m 200m short course, respectively, at the 2010 FINA World Championships.

He narrowly missed the Australian Olympic team in 2012, but won the overall Men's FINA World Cup title that year. He then won the silver medal at the 2012 FINA Short Track World Championships in the 100 IM and the bronze medal on several relays. He continued on the world stage in 2013, swimming on several world relays and finishing fifth in the FINA World Cup standings.

In 2014, he had qualified for the Commonwealth Games and Pan-Pacific Championships, but had undergone back surgery after the Commonwealth Games and had been forced to withdraw from the Pan Pacific Championships and World Championships. The operation, which resulted from an injury to the weight room, also sidelined his 2016 Olympic hopefuls.

Recognized as one of the best scuba diving specialists in the world, he started training with the Olympians Claudia Lau and Sze Hang Yu at the National Sports Institute as a senior member of the team in late 2016, then moved to Florida earlier this year.

At the 2018 World Short Course Championships, his best result was the 100 IM, where he finished sixth in 51.88, a new national record in Hong Kong. He planned to participate in the Hong Kong Sports Festival in April, which is one of the country's qualifying competitions for the 2018 FINA World Championships this year in Gwangju, Korea.

Until recently, the race for the Monks Pro Swim Series has stopped, ranking eighth in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 200 IM.