Kaylee Rochelle McKeown OAM (born 12 July 2001) is an Australian swimmer and triple Olympic gold medalist. She is the world record holder in the long course 50 metre backstroke, 100 metre backstroke and both the long course and short course 200 metre backstroke.[4][5] She won gold in both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke, as well as the 4×100 metre medley relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics staged in Tokyo in 2021.[6] In 2023, she was named as the "Best Female Swimmer of the Year" by World Aquatics, after sweeping gold in all three events of backstroke (50m, 100m, and 200m) at all three World Cup legs, held in Berlin, Athens and Budapest in October, 2023.[7]
Background
Kaylee McKeown was just 15 years old when she joined her older sister Taylor on the Australian Dolphins swim team. She was one of the youngest members.[8] She currently trains with the Griffith University swim group with Michael Bohl as her coach.[2][3]
Career
When she was 15 years old, McKeown competed at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, held in August in Maui, Hawaii, United States, winning the gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke with a time of 2:10.01 and the bronze medal in the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 1:01.01.[9]
The following year, McKeown competed in the women's 200 metre backstroke event at the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, placing fourth in a World Junior Record time of 2:06.76.[10][11] McKeown earned her first senior international medal for swimming the heats of the mixed medley relay, in which Australia placed second in the final.[12]
As a 16-year-old the next year, she was the youngest woman on the Swimming Australia roster for the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.[13] McKeown placed fifth in both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke events.[14][15]
McKeown earned her first senior individual medal at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships with a silver medal in the 200 metre backstroke event.
In 2020, McKeown broke her first World Record in the short course 200 metre backstroke event, swimming a time of 1:58.94 at the Australian Championships.[16]
2020 Summer Olympic Games
Leading up to the 2020 Summer Olympics, McKeown was the fastest swimmer in the 200 metre individual medley but withdrew from the event to concentrate on the backstroke.[17] McKeown broke the world record in the 100 metre backstroke event at the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials swimming a time of 57.45.[18]
McKeown won the 100 metre backstroke at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics setting a new Olympic record of 57.47 seconds and becoming the first Australian woman to win a backstroke event at an Olympic Games.[19] She also won the 200 metre backstroke event in a time of 2:04.68.[20]
2022 World Short Course Championships
Following her performances at the 2022 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships, held in Sydney in August, McKeown was named to the roster for the 2022 World Short Course Championships.[2] On the first day of competition, she ranked twelfth in the preliminaries of the 100 metre backstroke, qualifying for the semifinals with her time of 57.11 seconds.[21] Later in the morning, she qualified for the final of the 200 metre individual medley with an overall rank of fourth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:06.07.[22] In the evening session, she started off with a bronze medal-win in the 200 metre individual medley in an Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian record time of 2:03.57 before qualifying for the final of the 100 metre backstroke approximately 20 minutes later with a time of 56.35 seconds that ranked her sixth across both semifinal heats.[23][24][25]
On day two, McKeown won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke with a personal best time of 55.49 seconds.[26][27] The morning of day three, she ranked tenth in the preliminaries of the 50 metre backstroke with a time of 26.24 seconds and advanced to the semifinals.[28] In the evening semifinals, she placed ninth with a time of 26.09 seconds.[29] Two days later, she swam the backstroke portion of the 4×50 metre medley relay in the preliminaries in a time of 26.42 seconds, helping qualify the relay to the final ranking first in an Oceanian and Australian record time of 1:44.78.[30] When the finals relay placed first in a time of 1:42.35, she won a gold medal for her efforts in the preliminaries.[31]
Day six of six, McKeown started in the morning in the preliminaries of the 200 metre backstroke, where she ranked second in 2:02.32 and advanced to the final.[32] In the final, she was the only one to finish in a time faster than 2:00.00, winning the gold medal with a 1:59.26 that was 0.32 seconds slower than her world record mark from 2020.[33] She concluded the session with a silver medal in the 4×100 metre medley relay, leading-off with a 55.74 for the backstroke portion to help finish in an Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian record time of 3:44.92.[34]
2023 World Aquatics Championships
At the beginning of the 2023 season, McKeown broke the long course 200 metre backstroke world record at the 2023 NSW State Open Championships.[35] With this record, McKeown became the second swimmer to hold the Olympic title, Commonwealth title, Long Course World Championship title, Short Course World Championship title, Long Course world record and Short Course world record in the same event concurrently, following compatriot Grant Hackett in the 1500 metre freestyle.
At the 2023 World Aquatics Championships McKeown swept the 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke events, breaking the Oceanian record in the 50 metre backstroke and the championship record in the 100 metre backstroke.[36][37][38] McKeown became only the second swimmer to ever win the 50, 100 and 200 metre events of the same stroke during the same championships, after China's Qin Haiyang completed the breaststroke sweep the day prior.[39][40]
2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup
McKeown was the overall winner of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup after sweeping the backstroke events at all three stops.[41] At the final stop in Budapest, McKeown broke both the 50 metre and 100 metre backstroke world records (breaking her own world record in the latter) and became the first woman to break the long course 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke world records during their career, and the first woman to hold all three concurrently.[42]
Results in major championships
Meet | 50 back | 100 back | 200 back | 200 medley | 400 medley | 4×50 medley | 4×100 medley | 4×100 mixed medley |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PACJ 2016 | — | 17th | — | — | ||||
WC 2017 | 4th | 16th | — | |||||
CG 2018 | 4th | 4th | 9th | — | — | |||
PAC 2018 | — | 5th | 5th | — | ||||
YOG 2018 | 7th | — | 9th | |||||
WC 2019 | 4th | 5th | — | |||||
OG 2020 | — | — | ||||||
WC 2022 | 5th | DNS | — | |||||
CG 2022 | — | |||||||
SCW 2022 | 9th | [a] | — | |||||
WC 2023 | DQ | — |
- a McKeown swam only in the preliminary heats.
Career best times
Long course metres (50 m pool)
- As of 21 October 2023
Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 m freestyle | 26.59 | Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 14 December 2020 | |
NSW Open Championships | Sydney | 18 March 2021 | |||
100 m freestyle | 54.29 | NSW Open Championships | Sydney | 18 March 2021 | |
200 m freestyle | 1:56.14 | 2023 Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 10 December 2023 | |
400 m freestyle | 4:10.67 | Swimming Queensland Prep Meet | Brisbane | 14 November 2020 | |
50 m backstroke | 26.86 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest | 20 October 2023 | WR |
100 m backstroke | 57.33 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest | 21 October 2023 | WR |
200 m backstroke | 2:03.14 | 2023 NSW State Open Championships | Sydney | 10 March 2023 | WR |
50 m breaststroke | 32.18 | Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 14 December 2020 | |
100 m breaststroke | 1:06.86 | Victorian Open Championships | Melbourne | 17 February 2023 | |
200 m breaststroke | 2:24.18 | 2023 Australian Championships | Gold Coast | 19 April 2023 | |
50 m butterfly | 27.28 | Swimming Queensland Prep Meet | Brisbane | 15 November 2020 | |
100 m butterfly | 59.45 | Southport Prep Meet | Gold Coast | 18 November 2023 | |
200 m individual medley | 2:07.18 | 2023 Sydney Open | Sydney | 12 May 2023 | |
400 m individual medley | 4:31.74 | 2022 Australian Championships | Adelaide | 19 May 2022 | |
Short course metres (25 m pool)
- As of 14 December 2022
Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
200 m freestyle | 1:55.84 | Australian Championships (25m) | Melbourne | 27 October 2018 | |
50 m backstroke | 26.00 | Australian Virtual Championships (25m) | Brisbane | 27 November 2020 | |
100 m backstroke | 55.49 | 2022 World Short Course Championships | Melbourne | 14 December 2022 | |
200 m backstroke | 1:58.94 | Australian Virtual Championships (25m) | Brisbane | 28 November 2020 | WR, OC, CR, NR |
100 m breaststroke | 1:08.06 | Australian Championships (25m) | Melbourne | 25 October 2018 | |
50 m butterfly | 27.46 | Australian Virtual Championships (25m) | Brisbane | 27 November 2020 | |
100 m individual medley | 59.14 | Australian Virtual Championships (25m) | Brisbane | 26 November 2020 | |
200 m individual medley | 2:03.57 | 2022 World Short Course Championships | Melbourne | 13 December 2022 | OC, CR, NR |
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial
World records
Long course metres
No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 m backstroke | 57.45 | 2021 Australian Swimming Trials | Adelaide, Australia | 13 June 2021 | Former | [43] |
2 | 200 m backstroke | 2:03.14 | 2023 NSW State Open Championships | Sydney, Australia | 10 March 2023 | Current | [44] |
3 | 50 m backstroke | 26.86 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest, Hungary | 20 October 2023 | Current | [45] |
4 | 100 m backstroke (2) | 57.33 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest, Hungary | 21 October 2023 | Current | [46] |
Short course metres
No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 200 m backstroke | 1:58.94 | Australian Swimming Championships (25m) | Brisbane, Australia | 28 November 2020 | Current | [47] |
Olympic records
Long course metres
No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 100 m backstroke | 57.88 | h | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 25 July 2021 | Former | [48] | |
2 | 100 m backstroke (2) | 57.47 | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 27 July 2021 | Current | [48] | ||
3 | 4x100 m medley relay[a] | 3:51.60 | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 1 August 2021 | Current | OC, NR | [48] | |
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; tt – time trial
a split 58.01 for backstroke leg; with Chelsea Hodges (breaststroke), Emma McKeon (butterfly), Cate Campbell (freestyle)
Awards and honours
- In the 2022 Australia Day Honours McKeown was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.[49]
- in 2023, Australian Institute of Sport Performance Awards Female Able-Athlete of the Year[50]
- 2023 World Aquatics Female Athlete of the Year[51]
- 2023 Swimming World Female Swimmer of the Year[52]
- 2020 and 2023 SwimSwam Female Swimmer of the Year[53][54]
Personal life
In August 2020, McKeown's father, Sholto, died after a two-year battle with brain cancer.[6] She has a tattoo on her foot in his memory that says, "I'll always be with you".[55]
McKeown has been dating fellow Australian national team member and 2020 Olympian Brendon Smith since November 2021.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ "Kaylee McKeown". Swimming Australia. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- 1 2 3 "Dolphins Named For Home World Short Course Championships". Swimming Australia. 2 September 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- 1 2 3 Race, Retta (17 February 2022). "Now Under Michael Bohl, Kaylee McKeown Set To Race At Vic Open". SwimSwam. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
- ↑ Lepesant, Anne (13 June 2021). "Kaylee McKeown drops 57.45 to break Regan Smith's World Record in the 100 Back". Swimswam.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ↑ Hanson, Ian (27 November 2020). "Kaylee McKeown Sets World Short Course Record of 1:58.94 In 200m Backstroke". Swimming World. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- 1 2 "Kaylee McKeown secures another gold for Australia as Olympic swimming tally rises". The Guardian. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ↑ "Qin, McKeown named best swimmers of year by World Aquatics". The Straits Times. 24 October 2023. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
- ↑ "Kaylee McKeown". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ↑ Hy-Tek (27 August 2016). "Meet Results: 2016 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships". swmeets.com. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
- ↑ "Heats results". FINA. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ↑ "2017 World Aquatics Championships > Search via Athletes". Budapest 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ↑ "OMEGA Sports Live Timekeeping, Official Olympics Games Timekeeper". www.omegatiming.com. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ Brien, Taylor (4 July 2018). "Australia Announces 33 Swimmer Roster for 2018 Pan Pacific Championships". Swimming World. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150123201139/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014PP/140821F003.htm. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20141015001618/http://liveresults.swimming.org.au/sal/2014PP/140821F021.htm. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ↑ "Aussie Kaylee McKeown smashes backstroke world record in virtual race run across five cities". ABC News. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ Savage, Nic (22 July 2021). "Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown withdraws from 200m individual medley". News.com.au.
- ↑ NEW WORLD RECORD | Kaylee Mckeown | 100m Backstroke, retrieved 24 November 2023
- ↑ "Swimming - Final Results". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20210822071929/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/SWM/OG2020-_SWM_C73A1_SWMW200MBA------------FNL-000100--.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ↑ FINA (13 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 100m Backstroke Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (13 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 200m Individual Medley Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (13 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 200m Individual Medley Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (13 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 100m Backstroke Semifinals Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ↑ Keith, Braden (13 December 2022). "Kaylee McKeown Shaves a Tenth Off Her Australian Record in the 200 IM". SwimSwam. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (14 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 100m Backstroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ↑ Pérez, Marta (14 December 2022). "McKeown y Pallister sellan el doblete australiano en Melbourne" (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (15 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 50m Backstroke Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (15 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 50m Backstroke Semifinals Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (17 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 4x50m Medley Relay Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (17 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 4x50m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (18 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 200m Backstroke Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (18 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 200m Backstroke Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- ↑ FINA (18 December 2022). "16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne (AUS): Women's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
- ↑ Race, Retta (10 March 2023). "Kaylee McKeown Crushes 2:03.14 200 Backstroke World Record". SwimSwam. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ https://www.omegatiming.com/File/00011600010202EB0104FFFFFFFFFF01.pdf
- ↑ https://www.omegatiming.com/File/00011600010202EC0104FFFFFFFFFF01.pdf
- ↑ https://www.omegatiming.com/File/00011600010202EE0104FFFFFFFFFF01.pdf
- ↑ Li, Yanyan (28 July 2023). "Qin Haiyang Breaks 200 Breast World Record (2:05.48), Completes First-Ever Stroke Sweep". SwimSwam. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ Correspondent, Ian Hanson-Oceania (29 July 2023). "World Championships, Day Seven, 200m Backstroke: Kaylee McKeown Sweeps The Backstrokes Winning Australia's 12th Gold Medal of The Meet". Swimming World News. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ "Backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown completes lucrative World Cup hat-trick". ABC News. 22 October 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ Sutherland, James (20 October 2023). "Kaylee McKeown Blasts New World Record In Women's 50 Backstroke – 26.86". SwimSwam. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
- ↑ "Women's 100m Backstroke Final Results". swimming.org.au. 13 June 2021. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
- ↑ Race, Retta (10 March 2023). "Kaylee McKeown crushes 2:03.14 200 backstroke world record". SwimSwam. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ↑ Sutherland, James (20 October 2023). "Kaylee McKeown Blasts New World Record In Women's 50 Backstroke – 26.86". SwimSwam. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ↑ Overend, Riley (21 October 2023). "Kaylee McKeown Breaks 2nd World Record in 24 Hours With 57.33 100 Back in Budapest". SwimSwam. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ↑ "Women's 200m Backstroke SC Results". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 28 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
- 1 2 3 Omega Timing; Atos (1 August 2021). "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: Swimming Results Book" Archived 7 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- ↑ "Australia Day Honours List" (PDF). The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- ↑ Commission, Australian Sports Commission; jurisdiction=Commonwealth of Australia; corporateName=Australian Sports. "Swimming makes a big splash at AIS Performance Awards". Australian Sports Commission. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Qin, McKeown named best swimmers of year by World Aquatics". The Straits Times. 24 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
- ↑ "Swimming World December 2023 - the 2023 Swimmers of the year". Swimming World. 13 December 2023. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ↑ Griffin, Sean (29 December 2023). "2023 Swammy Awards: Female Swimmer of the Year - Kaylee McKeown". SwimSwam. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ↑ Dornan, Ben (4 January 2021). "2020 Swammy For Female Swimmer Of The Year Goes To Australia's Kaylee McKeown". SwimSwam. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ↑ "Tragic detail in Australian star Kaylee McKeown's golden swim". NewsComAu. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
External links
- Kaylee McKeown at Swimming Australia (archived) (2018-06-12)
- Kaylee McKeown at World Aquatics
- Kaylee McKeown at SwimRankings.net
- Kaylee McKeown at Olympics.com
- Kaylee McKeown at Olympedia
- Kaylee McKeown at the Australian Olympic Committee