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]
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]
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]
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, and swam the backstroke leg on the gold medal winning women's medley relay. [20]
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]
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.[ citation needed ]
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]
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]
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 | — |
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 | 4:06.85 | Victorian Open Championships | Melbourne | 24 February 2024 | |
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 | 2:06.99 | 2024 Australian Championships | Gold Coast | 17 April 2024 | OC |
400 m individual medley | 4:31.68 | 2023 Sydney Open | Adelaide | 13 May 2023 | |
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 |
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] |
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] |
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] | |
a split 58.01 for backstroke leg; with Chelsea Hodges (breaststroke), Emma McKeon (butterfly), Cate Campbell (freestyle)
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]
Nicolas Fink is an American competitive swimmer. He is a five-time world champion in breaststroke events. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×100 meter medley relay and 4×50 meter mixed medley relay. He is the Americas record holder in the short course 50 meter breaststroke, 100 meter breaststroke, and 200 meter breaststroke as well as the American record holder in the long course 50 meter breaststroke. In the 50 meter breaststroke, he won the World Short Course titles in 2021 and 2022 and World Long Course title in 2022. In the 100 meter breaststroke, he is the 2022 World Short Course gold medalist. In the 200 meter breaststroke, he is the 2021 World Short Course gold medalist.
Danas Rapšys is a Lithuanian swimmer. He is a two-time Olympian, a multiple-time Lithuanian record holder in the men's backstroke, freestyle and butterfly, and a double swimming champion at the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan. Rapšys is also a member of Panevežys Žemyna Club, and is coached and trained by Ina Paipelienė.
Evgeny Mikhailovich Rylov is a Russian competitive swimmer and Olympic champion specializing in backstroke events. He won three gold medals at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and a bronze medal at his senior international debut at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. He also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, both were in the 200 metre backstroke event. In 2018, at the 2018 World Short Course Championships, he won gold medals in the 200 metre backstroke and 50 metre backstroke. At the 2019 World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke, silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, and silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Kyle Chalmers, is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian and Australian record holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle.
Regan Smith is an American competitive swimmer. As of 2022, Smith trains under Bob Bowman with the Arizona State University professional training group. She is the world junior record holder in the women's long course 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke and a former world record holder in the long course 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter backstroke. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in three events representing the United States, winning a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke, a silver medal in the 200-meter butterfly, and a silver medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay. At the World Aquatics Championships, she won individual gold medals in the 200-meter backstroke in 2019 and the 100-meter backstroke in 2022 and a relay gold medal swimming the backstroke leg of the 4x100 medley relay in 2023.
Nicolò Martinenghi is an Italian swimmer. He is a two-time world record holder in the 4×50 metre medley relay, swimming breaststroke on both relays. He is the Italian record holder in the 50 metre breaststroke and 100 metre breaststroke.
Rebecca Meder is a South African swimmer. She is the African record holder in the 100 metre individual medley and the South African record holder in the long course and short course 200 metre individual medley. At the 2022 World Short Course Championships, she placed sixth in the final of the 100 metre individual medley. In the 200 metre individual medley at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she placed fourth in the final. At the 2021 African Championships, she won 11 gold medals, six in individual events and five in relay events, swimming on the finals relay for each of the five relay events.
Thomas Ceccon is an Italian swimmer. He is a world record holder in the long course 100 metre backstroke and the short course 4×100 metre freestyle relay. He is also the Italian record holder in the long course 50 metre backstroke and 50 metre butterfly. He is the 2022 World champion in the 100 metre backstroke and 2022 European champion in the 100 metre backstroke and 50 metre butterfly. In the 100 metre individual medley, he won the gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships and the bronze medal at the 2021 World Short Course Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in 4×100 metre freestyle relay, a bronze medal in the 4×100 metre medley relay, placed fourth in the 100 metre bacsktroke, and placed twelfth in the 100 metre freestyle.
Claire Curzan is an American competitive swimmer and Olympian. Specialising in multiple events, she earned an Olympic silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay in the 2020 Summer Olympics by swimming the preliminary butterfly leg. She holds junior world records in the long course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly and the short course 50 meter butterfly and 100 meter butterfly. She also holds American records in the short course 50 meter backstroke and 50 meter butterfly, and formerly held the American record in the 100 yard butterfly. She currently swims for the Virginia Cavaliers.
Kieran Smith is an American swimmer specializing in freestyle and individual medley events. He currently co-holds short course world records in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and the 4×100-meter medley relay. He is the Americas record holder in the long course 400-meter freestyle and the American record holder in the 500-yard freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, he won the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships. Following a fourth-place finish in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the event at the 2021 World Short Course Championships, 2022 World Aquatics Championships, and the 2022 World Short Course Championships.
Joseph Hunter Armstrong is an American competitive swimmer. He is the world record holder in the long course 50 meter backstroke. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, he won a silver medal in the 50 meter backstroke, a bronze medal in the 100 meter backstroke, gold medals in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay and 4×100 meter mixed medley relay, and a silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay, swimming backstroke in the preliminaries, and placed ninth in the 100 meter backstroke.
Summer McIntosh is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A four-time World Aquatics champion and two-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist, she is the current world record holder in the women's 400 metre individual medley.
Shaine Casas is an American professional swimmer. He is an Americas record holder in the short course 4×50 meter medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg of the relay. At the 2021 World Short Course Championships, he won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke, a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke, and placed seventh in the 50-meter backstroke. In 2022, at the year's World Aquatics Championships, he won the bronze medal in the 200-metre backstroke. Later in the year, at the 2022 World Short Course Championships, he won the silver medal in the 200-metre backstroke and placed fourth in the finals of the 100-meter individual medley and 200-meter individual medley.
Pieter Coetze is a South African swimmer. He is the African record holder in the long course and short course 100 metre backstroke and short course 50 metre backstroke. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, he won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke, the silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke, and the bronze medal in the 200 metre backstroke. At the 2022 World Junior Championships, he competed in ten events, including winning the gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke, silver medals in the 50 metre backstroke, 100 metre backstroke, and the 4×100 metre medley relay, as well as a bronze medal in the 4×100 metre mixed medley relay.
Youssef Ramadan is an Egyptian swimmer. He is an African record holder in the short course 4×50 metre medley relay and 4×100 metre medley relay, where he swam butterfly leg on both relays. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 100 metre butterfly, placing sixteenth in the semifinals. At the 2021 World Short Course Championships, he placed fourth in the 100 metre butterfly and thirteenth in the 100 metre freestyle. At the 2022 World Short Course Championships, he placed eighth in the final of the 100 metre butterfly and tenth in the semifinals of the 100 metre freestyle and the 50 metre butterfly. In 2023, he won the NCAA Division I Championships title in the 100 yard butterfly.
Lorenzo Mora is a competitive Italian swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×50 metre medley relay. He is the Italian record holder in the short course 100 metre backstroke and 200 metre backstroke. In the 50 metre backstroke, he won the silver medal at the 2021 World Short Course Championships and the bronze medal at the 2022 Mediterranean Games. In the 100 metre backstroke, he won the silver medal at each the 2022 World Short Course Championships and the 2022 Mediterranean Games. In the 200 metre backstroke, he won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships, the silver medal at the 2021 European Short Course Championships, and the gold medal at the 2022 Mediterranean Games.
Lani Pallister is an Australian competitive swimmer. She is a world record holder in two sports, with a world record in swimming, the short course 4×200-metre freestyle relay, and world records in life saving for the youth age group in the 100-metre rescue medley and 200-metre super lifesaver. She holds the Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian records in the short course 1500-metre freestyle and the Australian record in the short course 800-metre freestyle. She is the first female World Short Course champion in the 1500-metre freestyle, winning the inaugural event for women at the 2022 edition. Over the course of the 2022 World Short Course Championships, she won the gold medal in each of the four events she contested.
The 16th FINA World Swimming Championships took place from 13 to 18 December 2022 in Melbourne, Australia at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. Swimming events in the championships were conducted in a 25-metre outdoor pool.
Trenton Jeffrey Julian is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×200 meter freestyle relay and 4×100 meter medley relay. He won a gold medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2019 World University Games. He followed up with gold medals in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay at the 2021 World Short Course Championships, 2022 World Aquatic Championships, and 2022 World Short Course Championships. In the 4×100 meter medley relay, he won a world title and gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships, swimming butterfly on each the prelims and finals relay.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help){{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help){{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)