McKeown 57.41 Rattles Her WR As O’Callaghan Delivers 57.88 Duel & Makes Dolphin Nation The First With Two Sub-58 Club Members
Kaylee McKeown claimed ownership of nine of the all-time swiftest 10 swims over 100m backstroke with a 57.41 world-record rattler forged in a duel that made Mollie O’Callaghan the fourth member of the sub-57sec club, her 57.88 ensuring that both Australians will head to the Paris Olympic Games as podium and title contenders.
Additional reporting – Nicole Jeffery, in Brisbane
The Brisbane battle also made Australia the First Nation to get two women inside 58sec in the there-an-back backstroke sprint.
The 58-Flat-Or-Better Club, with 5 out of 7 women whose names start with the letter K:
| 57.33 | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 | Budapest | 21/10/2023 |
| 57.57 | Regan Smith | USA | 18th FINA World Championships 2019 | Gwangju | 28/07/2019 |
| 57.70 | Kylie Masse | CAN | Olympic Swimming Trials 2020 | Toronto | 19/06/2021 |
| 57.88 | Mollie O’Callaghan | AUS | Australian Trials 2024 | Brisbane | 11/06/2024 |
| 58.00 | Kathleen Baker | USA | US National Championships (50m) | Irvine | 28/07/2018 |
| 58.01 | Katherine Berkoff | USA | Phillips 66 National Championships (50m) | Indianapolis | 30/06/2023 |
| 58.08 | Kathleen Dawson | GBR | European Championships 2021 | Budapest | 23/05/2021 |
When thunder is the ‘norm’ of a career, what is sensational to others raises reasons to reflect in the hearts and minds of those with towering goals. “I’m a little bit disappointed,” McKeown said. “But I have booked myself another ticket to Paris so that’s just another chance to go faster.”
Regardless, McKeown is now a contender for gold in two events in Paris: the 200m medley, after a 2:06.63 scorcher and Commonwealth record yesterday, and the 100m backstroke, as defender of the crown three years after she claimed three gold medals racing backstroke at Tokyo2020: the stroke double and as a member of the victorious Dolphin medley quartet.
The 22-year-old Griffith University coached by Michael Bohl fell just 0.08sec shy of her 57.33 World record from last northern autumn. At the turn, she was 0.15sec inside her record pace and while her 29.41 return left her a fingernail shy of the best of best ever, McKeown gained on O’Callaghan on the way to the end wall:
28.15; 57.33 (29.18) McKeown WR, 2023
Today in Brisbane:
28.00; 57.41 (29.41) McKeown
28.17; 57.88 (29.71) O’Callaghan
Third home was Iona Anderson, 18, on 58.43, inside the qualifying time for Paris and as such a perspective Olympian should O’Callaghan decide not to include the sprint backstroke in her Paris schedule come the hour, Hannah Fredericks on 59.44 in fourth. The sigh of relief from nations comforted by the lack of a 4×100 back on the program is tangible.
Brisbane Results in full / Event Page
McKeown emerged from the Brisbane battle to say she felt some residual fatigue from the 200IM yesterday. She told Nicole Jeffery and assembled media in Brisbane: “If you’re going to get up and do a 200 max effort, you’re not going to come in the next day feeling refreshed no matter what you do. So the Olympics is just like that. If everything goes to plan I’ll have nine individual (races) plus relays so I”ve got to put myself in harm’s way here.”
In those circumstances, what was the trials goal? “It’s so hard when people ask your goal time,” said McKeown. “For me, it’s not necessarily the time, it’s the execution for the time, so that’s all I can do.”
She was happy with her performance but would go through it with coach Bohl.
O’Callaghan was full of praise for her Paris teammate: “Kaylee always does amazing, she’s very tough on herself and I think whatever she does is incredible so she should be proud of herself regardless.”
On her own stunning effort and whether she would race the 100 back in Paris, she said:
“Look, I’m happy with anything to be honest. It’s the 100 backstroke, for me it’s a fun event. I don’t really train for it. So you know to go out there and do a 57 is just amazing. I put a lot of pressure on myself, regardless, if it’s a main event or not, so I’m really really happy with that outcome.
[On whether she will race the 100 back in Paris]. I don’t know yet. It really depends on if I qualify for the next few events. I think the main thing is just taking it day by day and then decide at the end.
Mollie O’Callaghan – photo by Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Australia
O’Callaghan’s first major target as reigning world champion and world record holder unfolds tomorrow when she races the 200m free. How was she feeling?
“Obviously very, very nervous,” she replied. “You know, there’s a lot of pressure riding on this event, especially having the world record in it. And especially a lot of pressure from myself, you know, I’m my biggest critic so, you know, whatever happens happens, I would really love to make a team in this event and do the best job I can.”
McKeown – 9/10 Of The All-Time Fastest 100m Backstroke Blasts:
| 57.33 | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 | Budapest | 21/10/2023 |
| 57.41 | McKeown | AUS | Australian Trials 2024 | Brisbane | 11/06/2024 |
| 57.45 | McKeown | AUS | Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Trials 2021 | Adelaide | 13/06/2021 |
| 57.47 | McKeown | AUS | Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Tokyo | 27/07/2021 |
| 57.50 | McKeown | AUS | Australian Swimming Trials | Melbourne | 14/06/2023 |
| 57.53 | McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023 | Fukuoka | 25/07/2023 |
| 57.57 | McKeown | AUS | NSW State Open Championships 2024 | Sydney | 16/03/2024 |
| 57.57 | Regan Smith | USA | 18th FINA World Championships 2019 | Gwangju | 28/07/2019 |
| 57.63 | McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 | Athens | 14/10/2023 |
| 57.63 | McKeown | AUS | Sydney Open 2021 | Sydney | 14/05/2021 |
World Record Progression Since Shiny Suits in 2009:
From The Archive – October 21, 2023:
McKeown Shadows Pace Of Matthes: 57.33 For World Record No 2 in 24 Hours
Kaylee McKeown is the World swimmer of the year: in 57.33sec in a league of her own at the helm of the 100m backstroke on day 2 of the concluding round of the World Cup in Budapest, the Australian triple Olympic and World-Championship gold medallist took down her second global standards in 24 hours to double her tally of pioneering entries in the book of the best of the best.
Out in 28.15, McKeown was 0.05sec down on the pace she turned in on the way to the 57.45sec World record she set at Olympic trials on her way to the 100-200m double at the Tokyo 2020ne Olympics. The medley relay granted her a third ultimate title.
A 29.18sec return, faster than the first two world-best times from the 1980s, delivered the 57.33sec World record, the time swifter than the first three of Roland Matthes‘ record seven men’s global standards.
The last four of those efforts from the legendary “Rolls Royce of backstroke” were set between 1970 and 1972, when Matthes retained both the 100 and 200m Olympic crowns: he remains the only man top have set seven World records in the 100m and the only man to have won both Olympic backstroke titles at two Games.
McKeown, who yesterday set the 50m World record at 26.86 to become the first woman in history to hold the 50, 100 and 200m World records, simultaneously and otherwise, is aiming to become the first woman to achieve that Olympic feat in Paris next summer – and the signs are looking good.
This year alone, she has clocked 57+ no f ewer than nine times and now owns the all-time top 5, 7 of the best 10 and half of the best 20 ever performances in the 100m backstroke. Former world-record holder Regan Smith, of the USA, and Kylie Masse, of Canada, are the only two other women to have raced below 58sec.
McKeown’s bull run this year makes her a clear candidate for world swimmer of the year. No other swimmer has claimed three World titles on one stroke then backed up with an unbeaten record on World Cup tour underpinned by two World records, her campaign of getting swifter with each passing round a model of planning and purposefulness for others to follow. A credit to the 22-year-old and her coach Michael Bohl.
By the time Matthes finished his record run, he’d left the men’s standard at 56.30. A different trajectory from a time that had more time and development on the clock than the Australian pioneer has in her era. Any sub-57sec swim in the women’s 100m backstroke would be more than sensational.
McKeown’s 57.33 won the race by almost two seconds today, a phenomenal margin, with Canadians Kylie Masse and Ingrid Wilm on 59.26 and 59.64 respectively.
Speaking after setting the fourth World record of her career, McKeown said:
“I wasn’t expecting that at all. I thought I might get close but didn’t think I’d go under in a million years. Moving to Michael Bohl has given me a lot of confidence. ” [Asked what she wanted to say to her parents and others watching back home, she said: “Go back to bed, cos it’s 2am back home!”
Kaylee McKeown