2023 AUSTRALIAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS
- Tuesday, June 13th – Sunday, June 18th
- Prelims at 10 a.m. local (8 p.m. previous day EDT)/Finals at 7 p.m. local (5 a.m. EDT)
- Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Final Start List
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap / Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap / Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap / Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap/ Day 4 Finals Live Recap
- Live Results
- Livestream (9now)
Kaylee McKeown put on a show en route to winning the women’s 200m backstroke on day four of the 2023 Australian World Championship Trials.
21-year-old McKeown of Griffith University fired off a monster time of 2:03.70 to beat the field by nearly 7 seconds. Runner-up was Jenna Forrester who clocked 2:10.37 while Hannah Fredericks rounded out the top 3 in 2:10.84.
Splitting 1:00.72/1:02.98, McKeown was just over half a second off her World Record-setting mark of 2:03.14 notched at this year’s New South Wales State Open Championships.
Her 2:03.70 tonight represents the 4th swiftest performance in history. McKeown now owns 7 of the top 10 women’s LCM 200 backstroke performances of all time.
Top 5 Women’s LCM 200 Backstroke Performances All-Time
- 2:03.14 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2023
- 2:03.35 – Regan Smith (USA) 2019
- 2:03.69 – Regan Smith (USA) 2019
- 2:03.70 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2023
- 2:04.06 – Missy Franklin (USA) 2012
- 2:04.28 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2021
- 2:04.31 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2021
- 2:04.18 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2023
- 2:04.49 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2020
- 2:04.64 – Kaylee McKeown (AUS) 2022
Splits for her 2:03.70 performance this evening versus her 2:03.14 World Record are as follows:
| McKeown’s WR | McKeown’s 2:03.70 |
| 29.34 | 29.22 |
| 31.39 | 31.50 |
| 31.11 | 31.49 |
| 31.30 | 31.49 |
| 2:03.14 | 2:03.70 |
Those last three 50s almost look like supersuit splits from 2009- she must have an incredible aerobic base. What do you reckon she could do in a 400 backstroke? If she kept that pace, she’d be a 4:10ish…
Put the next duel in the pool in the hands of the Texas coaching staff and run it like the Eddie Reese invite with 300s, 75s and other shenanigans. Casual viewers would hate it, but imagine seeing elite racing for weird distances.
The consistency of those last 3 50s is insane!
What’s the best Australian slang word that describes Kaylee’s swimming?
Is it “bonzer?”
Bonzer is pretty old school.
I would describe Kaylee as a “little ripper”. Thorpie might describe her as “fully sick”, while Aboriginals would say she’s “deadly”. All of those mean essentially the same thing.
For non-Aussies that missed the joke: the word “sick” was very popular in the early-mid 2000s to mean “cool”.
Thorpe was in an ad where kids wouldn’t eat their cereal, so he told their mother to say “Thorpie says they’re fully sick” and then they loved it. It was a bit of a meme at the time (in the more traditional sense before internet memes were a thing).
Kaylee vs. Regan is going to be epic and fun!
This photo of Kaylee gives Regan Smith vibes
I think you made a little mistake Retta in the Top 5 Women’s LCM backstroke. You wrote 2’04”70 instead 2’03”70.
By the way thank you very much for covering trials all around the world. Your articles are great, the icing on the cake of SwimSwam. 🙂
Fixed. And thank you!!
even splitting that last 100 is impressive
essentially even splitting the 2nd-4th 50 as well
Hey Retta, just letting you know that when you list the top performances of all time, you have put 2:04.70 instead of 2:03.70 😊
and its missing kaylee’s 2:04.18 from may
I’ll get it, thanks.
Thanks!