McKeown Mission Accomplished: 2:03.3 Victory Delivers Double Defence Of Back Title In Paris
In 2:03.30, Kaylee McKeown rattled her 2:03.14 World record with the second swiftest 200m backstroke swim in history to go 6/best10 and 12/best20 on the all-time rankings as she booked her twin tickets to a double defence of the Olympic backstroke crowns in Paris this summer.
The bonus shot three years on from glory in Tokyo is the 200m medley, in which she set a Commonwealth record of 2:06.63 earlier this week. All three of her victories, including a 57.41 in the 100m back, have been close enough to world records for the standard to flutter in the warning breeze.
Additional reporting by Nicole Jeffery
McKeown, coached by Michael Bohl at Griffith University, told reporters in Brisbane: “The first half of this meet I’ve been quite nervous, so I really just wanted to enjoy tonight, so I’m glad you could see that on camera… I didn’t hear anything [from crowd], I was in my own little world, but I’ve got a ticket to Paris, so I’m hoping to be on the big stage for that.”
The edge of difference between today and McKeon on world-record pace a year ago at NSW Championships in Sydney was decisive in the middle of the raced, the third lap producing a decisive gap:
29.34; 1:00.73 (31.39) 1:31.84 (31.11) 2:03.14 (31.30) McKeown, Sydney 2023
29.08; 1:00.58 (31.50) 1:32.05 (31.47) 2:03.30 (31.25) McKeown, Brisbane 2024
In the immediate aftermath of qualification, when asked about Paris, McKeown said: “I just want to enjoy this Olympics, last time I was probably a bit too young to enjoy it. So this time around, I’m just looking to go there and put my best foot forward.”
The Key To Kaylee McKeown Being At Her Best in Paris
Jeffery asked Bohl, who will take a 12-month sabbatical after the Paris Olympics, ‘what’s the key to Kaylee racing at her best in Paris’?. He replied:
“I think it’s handling the environment. You know, we always talk about the Olympics being that unpredictable environment, and there’s so much going on, it’s chaotic, and I think you know, the people that are able to keep the calmness, be level headed in the situations around you are the people that get the best of themselves there. So I think that’s half the battle.
“In my mind. Just that sort of mental challenge. It’s not the physical challenge, it’s more the mental challenge of being in that environment where everyone knows it’s once every four years. It’s It’s difficult. It’s not easy to get those great results. And I think there she would have learned a lot from the last Olympics she competed in. She was much younger than and less experienced. She’s more experienced now.
“She’s going to be learning from what’s happening here, and you know, there’s still a window to get some more work in once this is finished. It’s around about six weeks, I think it is between when this finishes, and when the Olympics is on.”
Michael Bohl – Photo: Kaylee McKeown of Australia on her way winning the 200m backstroke in Tokyo – by Patrick B. Kraemer
Bohl gave further insight into the champion’s personality when he added: “I just think that she’s a bit of an anxious person. I think it’s just trying to keep her calm. She just wants to do well so much. It’s just trying to keep her as calm as you can in that environment. And I think we connect quite well.
“I coached her sister for a while, Taylor, and I think I know the family quite well and I just think that spending time with people you get to know them better. So it’s just knowing what buttons to push and lifting her up when she’s down, and when she gets too cocky, I’ll bring her down again, just keeping her level.”
Kaylee McKeown was unmoved by the near-miss on the record. With a nod to Regan Smith and the rest at U.S. Trials that get underway this weekend, McKeown told Nicole Jeffery and reporters gathered in Brisbane: “It doesn’t bother me at all. To be honest with you, I’m just happy to still be swimming around that time. There’s so many people in the world that are doing that at the moment, there’s one that I can think of, and she’s about to get up and race. I’m nervous to see what she does but I’m excited for the battle that we have in Paris.
“I just want to enjoy this Olympics. Last time, I was probably a bit too young to enjoy it. So this time around, I’m just looking to go there and put my best foot forward.”
Asked to describe her best mindset for performing at best and how she thought Tokyo and Paris would differ, McKeown replied:
“Half the time I’m not even thinking about what I’m doing, like in marshaling before we were just having a good old laugh and I think if you can just enjoy yourself and not take yourself too seriously. That’s the best recipe for a good swim.
“This time I’m adding another 200 individual event so that’s going to be taxing obviously, and then I’ve got the relays and the two backstrokes, but I’ve done the work, I’ve done the training. I’ve just got to really actually taper for this next meet so I’m excited for that.”
Kaylee McKeown – Photo by Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Australia
Barclay, 17, Gets The Second Ticket To Paris 200
In McKeown’s wash, the battle for the second ticket to Paris was fought across a 15-year range of experience and age among the top 5 home – and it was the youngest and least experienced of them all got the thumbs up from swimming gods.
The first four home got inside the Paris cut but the edge was with 17-year-old Jacyln Barclay, of St Peters Western, in 2:07.88, her club mate Hannah Fredericks, 21, locked out by 0.37sec, on 2:08.25 in third. Iona Anderson, a 100m specialist, was fourth in 2:09.22.
And next home was Emily Seebohm, former Australian No1, World champion and 2020ne Olympic 200m bronze medallist in her Games swansong swim in Tokyo. On 2:10.80 today, she will not be going to a fifth Olympics this year but the message demand mission of her comeback as a new mum at 32 stand tall:
“When I was pregnant, I felt like I lost that athlete that I was. And this is me trying to regain what I once had and proving to other women that it’s possible to not only have kids but achieve your dreams too. I’m doing it for myself and I’m doing it to prove to (son) Sampson that if you’ve got a dream, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
Emily Seebohm – Photo: Seebohm in 2017, when she retained the World title in Budapest – buy Patrick B. Kraemer
This day, the future in the Olympic pool belonged to Jacyln Barclay, at 17, the youngest so far to win a place on the Australian Olympic team:
She told Nicole Jeffery in Brisbane: “Just to be able to race these girls is incredible and to achieve every athlete’s dream and make the Olympics, I’m still a little bit in shock, to be honest.
Barclay raced at the Doha World Championships in February under no pressure. Was this one harder than that or not? “I reckon I was much more nervous for this one,” said Barclay. I was struggling quite a bit with my nerves and just the stress of what seemed to me, putting expectation on myself, but I was really happy with how I performed tonight and put it all together.
“It was just incredible to touch the wall and see that I was second. I couldn’t believe it. I was really happy with my time, to be pretty close to my PB as well.”
When had belief kicked in for her that she was capable of achieving what she did today? “Honestly, probably in Doha, because I did a huge PB there, so that was really my moment of realization that you maybe this could be a thing.
Asked how preparation had gone between then and now, Barclay replied: “Pretty good. I’ve been training with a couple of different coaches and squads and trying to get through Year 12 (at St Peter’s Lutheran College) at the same time.”
Brisbane Results in full / Event Page
The All-Time Top Textile Club (see world-record progression below), with all barring Franklin in the mix for Paris action, U.S. Trials set to start at the weekend
| 2:03.14wr | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | NSW State Open Championships 2023 |
| 2:03.35wr | Regan Smith | USA | 18th FINA World Championships 2019 |
| 2:04.06wr | Missy Franklin | USA | Olympic Games London 2012 |
| 2:05.08 | Phoebe Bacon | USA | Phillips 66 International Team Trials 2022 |
| 2:05.13 | Rhyan White | USA | Phillips 66 International Team Trials 2022 |
All-time Top 20 Performances – McKeown Has 6/10 and 12/20
| 1 | 2:03.14 | Kaylee McKeown | AUS | NSW State Open Championships 2023 | Sydney | 10/03/2023 |
| 2 | 2:03.30 | McKeown | AUS | Australian Trials | Brisbane | 13/06/2024 |
| 3 | 2:03.35 | Regan Smith | USA | 18th FINA World Championships 2019 | Gwangju | 26/07/2019 |
| 4 | 2:03.69 | Smith | USA | 18th FINA World Championships 2019 | Gwangju | 27/07/2019 |
| 5 | 2:03.70 | McKeown | AUS | Australian Swimming Trials | Melbourne | 16/06/2023 |
| 6 | 2:03.80 | Smith | USA | Phillips 66 National Championships (50m) | Indianapolis | 28/06/2023 |
| 7 | 2:03.84 | McKeown | AUS | Australian National Championships (50m) | Gold Coast | 20/04/2024 |
| 8 | 2:03.85 | McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Championships – Fukuoka 2023 | Fukuoka | 29/07/2023 |
| 9 | 2:03.99 | Smith | USA | TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont 2024 | Westmont | 09/03/2024 |
| 10 | 2:04.06 | Missy Franklin | USA | Olympic Games London 2012 | London | 03/08/2012 |
| 11 | 2:04.21 | McKeown | AUS | NSW State Open Championships 2024 | Sydney | 15/03/2024 |
| 12 | 2:04.27 | Smith | USA | Toyota US Open 2023 | Greensboro | 02/12/2023 |
| 13 | 2:04.28 | McKeown | AUS | Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Trials 2021 | Adelaide | 17/06/2021 |
| 14 | 2:04.31 | McKeown | AUS | Sydney Open 2021 | Sydney | 13/05/2021 |
| 15 | 2:04.49 | McKeown | AUS | Swimming QLD Prep meet | Brisbane | 15/11/2020 |
| 16 | 2:04.64 | McKeown | AUS | Victorian Open Championships 2022 | Melbourne | 18/02/2022 |
| 17 | 2:04.68 | McKeown | AUS | Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 | Tokyo | 31/07/2021 |
| 18 | 2:04.76 | Smith | USA | TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont 2023 | Westmont | 15/04/2023 |
| 19 | 2:04.76 | Franklin | USA | 15th FINA World Championships 2013 | Barcelona | 03/08/2013 |
| 20 | 2:04.81 | McKeown | AUS | World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 | Budapest | 22/10/2023 |
| 20 | 2:04.81 | Coventry | ZIM | 13th FINA World Championships 2009 | Rome | 01/08/2009 |
World Record Progression
(Since Hungarian legend Krisztina Egerszegi‘s 1991 standard, the last in textile before shiny suits came and went – shiny suited swims in italics)