McKeown becomes first woman to hold every backstroke world record
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown poses with the best female swimmer award during the swimming event at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka on July 30, 2023. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
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 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 favorite 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.
McKeown has held the 100m world record since June 2021 and bagged the 200m in March.
She 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 back is not contested at the Olympics.
