Yolane Kukla became the youngest female to make a senior Australian swim team in a generation after trouncing reigning world champion Marieke Guehrer in the 50m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games trials.

The stocky 14-year-old stunned the field in the non-Olympic event on Wednesday night to win in a time of 25.92 seconds ahead of Guehrer (26.28) at Sydney Olympic Park.

After producing the shock result, the short, muscular swimmer nicknamed “Yo Yo” bobbed up and down the water overcome with excitement.

On earning a trip to the Delhi Commonwealth Games, she said: “Oh my god!”

“I did not think I’d go there.

“Thank you so much mum and thank you Mick (Palfery) for being such a great coach,” she added before welling up.

Not long afterwards, she backed up her effort by qualifying third fastest in a very open field for Thursday night’s 100m freestyle final.

Kukla is the youngest female swimmer to make a major Australian team since a 13-year-old Jodie Clatworthy earned a spot at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

With the retired Libby Trickett now walking around the pooldeck as a commentator and Cate Campbell bombing out in the 100m freestyle semi-finals, Kukla’s performance was just what Australian swimming needed.

Trickett’s absence from the sprint arena and Campbell’s problems have exposed the nation’s sprint stocks with the fastest qualifier Alicia Coutts (54.95) hardly setting the world on fire, even by textile suit standards.

Trickett has already developed a soft spot for Kukla because of their shared limitations in the height department.

And Kukla already has Trickett’s best time in the 50m butterfly covered.

“I am always glad to see someone like that win,” Trickett said.

“Go the shorties!

“In the sprint world they are full of giants.”

Kukla is the latest former gymnast to find success in another sport for Australia.

The likes of Lydia Lassila and Alisa Camplin have transferred their skills across to win Winter Olympic gold in aerial skiing while Chantelle Newbery captured gold at the Athens Olympics in diving.

Kukla, who trains alongside Stephanie Rice in Brisbane, only left gymnastics after blowing out her knee.

Although there has been considerable buzz on the pooldeck about her talents, she still couldn’t make the cut for the top 32 athletes in the event’s media guide.

Kukla’s coach Michael Palfery said of his charge: “She just loved the moment.”

The nation’s youngest swimmer at a major meet was Dimity Douglas, who was just 12 at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

Leisel Jones, who herself qualified for the Sydney Olympics as a 14-year-old, praised Kukla’s performance.

“She’s obviously very gutsy,” she said.

“You can easily tell that she has got the goods already.”

Jones (30.87s) showed she might have skipped last year’s Rome world championships but she has lost none of her speed by winning the 50m breaststroke.

Hayden Stoeckel (25.06s) collected the men’s 50m backstroke title and Beijing Olympic relay medallist Nick Ffrost (1:47.50) claimed the 200m freestyle.

© AAP 2012

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