Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Australia’s Kaylee McKeown has been on a tear the past few years. She continued her run with a 2:04.31 in the 200 back, making her a major Tokyo medal threat.
The 19-year-old McKeown made waves in late 2020, smashing a 2:04.49 in long course meters. That came in the same month as McKeown set the short course meters world record in the same event, going 1:58.94 at the Australian Championships.
This week, McKeown cut another tenth from her long course best, setting a new Australian record at 2:04.31.
That improves McKeown’s standing as the third-fastest performer of all-time in the event, and puts her on the cusp of becoming just the second swimmer ever under 2:04. McKeown holds the #4 and #5 fastest swims of all-time in the event:
Top Women’s LCM 200 Back Performers All-Time
- Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.35 2019
- Missy Franklin (USA), 2:04.06 2012
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2:04.31 2021
- Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), 2:04.81 2009
- Anastasia Fesikova (RUS), 2:04.94 2009
Top Women’s LCM 200 Back Performances All-Time
- Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.35 2019
- Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.69 2019
- Missy Franklin (USA), 2:04.06 2012
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2:04.31 2021
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2:04.49 2020
She just swam 57.63 in 100 back 👍
Shouldn’t we wait till this weekend is over other swimmers could post mind blowing performance as well🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
As things stand, she is favourite for gold. Only Regan Smith stands in her way, and it’s almost 2 years since she swam her best time. We won’t see until trials just how well she is swimming unless she throws down a significant time this week.
There hasn’t been a meet for smith to have a reason to rest
The same could be said with Kaylee too.
Same goes for McKeown
Emma McK and Kaylee McK could well be olympic queens…
Was McKeown not already third all-time performer thanks to her 2020 swim?