2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 13 to Sunday, December 18, 2022
- Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre, Melbourne, Australia
- SCM (25m)
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Australian Kaylee McKeown flexed her versatility in the 200 IM on Tuesday to kick off her World Short Course Championships with a bronze medal and new Australia Record of 2:03.57.
That time put her behind Americans Alex Walsh (2:03.37) and Kate Douglass (2:02.12) on the podium, but made McKeown the fastest swimmer from Australia (and broader Oceania) ever. It also marks her as the 4th-fastest performer in history, which is actually two spots lower than she was before the day began.
McKeown’s relative strengths on the field was her backstroke – not surprising as a World Record holder in that stroke. She split 30.50 on the backstroke leg, as compared to 30.57 from Alex Walsh (surprisingly close as its probably her 4th-best stroke right now, even though it’s the one that first put her on the National Team), and a 31.29 from Kate Douglass.
Perhaps the most impressive part is that in a field heavy with strong breaststrokers (Bonnet, Wood, Pickrem, Walsh, and Douglass), McKeown held her own with a 36.22 split. That’s slower than Walsh and Douglass, but not by as much as it could have been.
Record-Breaking Splits Comparison:
| Kaylee McKeown | ||
| New Australian Record |
Old Australian Record
|
|
| Fly | 27.16 | 27.46 |
| Back | 30.50 | 30.79 |
| Breast | 36.22 | 35.94 |
| Free | 29.69 | 29.49 |
| 2:03.57 | 2:03.68 |
McKeown’s prior record-setting swim was done in 2020 at a virtual return-to-competition event held by Swimming Australia.
This is not a discipline where Australia has done much in short course, in spite of a lot of big long course success from the likes of Alicia Coutts and Stephanie Rice. The next-best performer of all-time in the country is Emily Seebohm in 2:05.46, and McKeown is the country’s first short course medalist in any IM for men or women since Lara Carroll took bronze in 2006.
McKeown has only raced this event a handful of times in short course meters – she doesn’t race short course often – but the best time bodes well for her backstroke races later in the meet, with World Records in her eyes.