Australia's McKeown becomes first woman to hold every backstroke world record
AUSTRALIAN Kaylee McKeown said she was “super stoked” after becoming the first woman to hold world records in all three backstroke disciplines by smashing the 50m mark.
The 22-year-old clocked 26.86 seconds at the World Cup in Budapest on Friday (Oct 20) to better the previous best of 26.98 set by China’s Liu Xiang in 2018.
“I am super stoked with that,” said McKeown, who is a red-hot favourite to dominate in the pool at next year’s Paris Olympics.
“The only thing I can keep doing is training hard and keep believing in myself and believing in my coach.
“I never saw myself as a sprinter so it’s really nice to have that under my belt.
“Next year is going to be a really tough year so the more confidence I can build, the better,” she added.
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Another world record
Further, McKeown on Saturday smashed a second world record in as many days, with the star Australian swimmer bettering her own 100m backstroke mark.
The 22-year-old touched in 57.33 seconds at the World Cup in Budapest to shave 0.12 seconds off the time she set in Adelaide before the Tokyo Olympic Games.
McKeown now owns the five fastest times in history as she builds up to next year’s Paris Olympics.
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The new mark comes a day after she clocked 26.86 seconds for a new 50m backstroke world record.
“No, I honestly didn’t think about swimming a world record,” McKeown said after her 100m exploits.
“I was really relaxed coming into tonight. I tend to swim better when I go out a bit faster, I am trying to learn to swim a bit sharper.
“I’m happy that some of the things we are trying are working. This is a good stepping stone for the future.”
McKeown has held the 100m world record since June 2021 and bagged the 200m in March.
The Australian swept the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke titles at the world championships in July and also owns the Olympic 100m and 200m golds. The 50m backstroke is not contested at the Olympics. AFP
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