The remarkable Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University) is swimming her way towards a World Cup backstroking clean sweep after scooping the pool again in Athens over the weekend – claiming her second straight treble in World Cup record times.
The 23-year-old Gold Coaster added the 200m backstroke in 2:06.02 over – taking down her own WC mark set in Berlin the week before just 24 hours after nudging her own world in the 100m backstroke in 57.63 - just 0.18 outside her 2021 time of 57.45.
It gives McKeown six of the all-time fastest seven times ever swum:
57.45 (Oly Trials ’21)
57.47 (OIy Tokyo ’21)
57.50 (Aus Trials ’22)
57.53 (Worlds ’23)
57.57 (Worlds '19)
=56.63 (Sydney Open ’21)
=57.63 (World Cup, Athens ’23)
Night one saw her kick-start her second World Cup treble in the 50m in 27.02, faster than she had swum in Berlin.
McKeown also claimed the Female Swimmer of the Meet for the second meet in a row and now moves on to the final meet in Budapest next week.
McKeown has 117.7 points through the first two weekends as she is ahead of China’s Yufei Zhang (110.5) and Sweden’s Sarah Sjoestroem (109.7) and adding her second $US12,000 cheque as Swimmer of the Meet.
“I spoke with my coach Michael Bohl before the 100m backstroke final and we discussed the possibility of the (world) record, but my goal was just to swim faster and benefiting from the experience of back-to-back racing and that’s really why we are here,” McKeown said, also happy with her 200m backstroke.
“The 200m was another opportunity to get up and race, under pressure, and do the best that I can. I just wanted to take it out a little bit harder and see if I could hold on. That didn't work all that well for me, but I am still really happy with the outcome.
“Absolutely this puts pressure on me for Budapest,” said McKeown.
“I have three important races in Budapest and perhaps there may be some cash rewards. It's always lovely to be recognised for some hard work. It's not very often, especially back home, that there are money incentives.
“We had two weeks off after the World Championships and it’s been a short little prep and I’m enjoying the challenge and challenging myself in racing.”
The only other gold for Australia in Athens came in the women’s 1500m freestyle with McKeown’s Griffith University teammate Lani Pallister, setting a new WC record of 15:55.73, after taking silver in the 400m in 4:02.47, just outside her PB swum in Berlin.
Outside her 2023 best of 15:49 from July’s World Championships, which is a promising sign for the 21-year-old and former World Junior champion moving forward.
“World Aquatics hasn't offered the 1500m freestyle event all that often, so I wasn’t even sure what the World cup record was,” Pallister said.
“It's been an incredible meet. I was tired yesterday. I may have had too much coffee yesterday and backfired. Three weeks in a row and back-to-back racing will prepare us for next year especially if I am lucky enough to qualify for Paris.
“You need to put yourself out there and test yourself. I have done minimal work, after a massive summer program. I wanted to see how close I would get to my best time.
“It gives me confidence that I am within 5 seconds of my shaved and tapered time. I am excited to go home after Budapest and get back into training.”
In other events:
- Isaac Cooper (St Andrews) continued on his medal winning ways, adding silver to his gold in the 50m freestyle in 22.07 from lane eight after surviving a swim off after dead-heating with Sean Niewold(NED) in the heats. Cooper improving from 22.49 in the heats to 22.24 in the swim off to 22.07 in the final. Cooper also clocked a PB of 23.19 to finish second in the 50m butterfly – the fourth fastest Australian and took bronze in the 50m backstroke in 24.90.
- Cody Simpson (Griffith University) broke through for his first international medal, winning silver in the 100m butterfly in 51.92 – dead-heating with the USA’S Michael Andrew.
- Jenna Strauch (Miami) added a second silver in the 200m breaststroke, following her second-placed finish in Berlin with a time of 2:24.19 in Athens with her clubmate, rookie Maximillian Giuliani claiming a second silver of the campaign in the 200m freestyle in 1:47.18.
- While the Campbell sisters continued their return to international competition, Cate (Chandler) finishing second in the 50m freestyle in 24,54 with Bronte (Cruiz, ACT) fourth 25.70 while in the 100m final it was Bronte who stepped up to the podium to finish third in 53.60 with Cate fourth in 53.88.
- With Zac Incerti (USC Spartans) finished with bronze in the 100m freestyle in 48.88 as did Brendon Smith (Griffith University) in the 400IM in 4:18.18 and Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University) in the women’s 200IM in 2:11.23.
Photo courtesy of World Aquatics
