Kaylee McKeown Swims 2:04 200 Back in Victoria; Faster Than Olympic Gold Time

2022 VICTORIAN OPEN

• Friday, February 18th – Sunday, February 20th
• Melbourne Sports Centre (MSAC)
• LCM (50m)
• Psych Sheet
• Results
• Day 1 Results PDF

Full Recap to Follow

Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown is having no trouble adapting to her new training under coach Michael Bohl at Griffith University.

In her first official meet representing her new club, McKeown swam 2:04.64 in the 200 meter backstroke in long course. That’s faster than her gold-medal winning time from last summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, and is just four-tenths short of her Australian All-Comers Record (for the fastest swim on Australian soil) from the 2021 Olympic Trials.

While McKeown was the double Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 backstroke last year, she was faster in both races at Trials.

At the Olympics, she skated through the semi-finals in a 2:07 before popping a 2:04.68 in the final. With World Record holder Regan Smith not making the US team in this event, that was enough to beat Canadian Kylie Masse by seven-tenths of a second for the win.

Splits Comparison:

McKeown’s splitting of this race looked much more like her splitting in the Tokyo Olympic finals, albeit with a slightly-better back-half, than it did her personal best and Australian Record from Trials.

The swim also breaks the Victorian All-Comers Record as the fastest-ever swim done in the state of Victoria. The previous All-Comers record was done by American Margaret Hoelzer in 2007 at the World Championships in Melbourne.

McKeown is scheduled to race the 100 back, 50 free, 200 IM, and 50 back at this meet.