Born in Redcliffe and educated in Caboolture, 23-year-old Kaylee McKeown defied the bookies by beating American Regan Smith and the rest of the 100m backstroke field in 57.33 seconds.
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Kaylee turned in 4th with a 28.08 split but powered past Kylie Masse of Canada, and Regan Smith and Katherine Berkoff of the USA. Current world record holder Regan Smith was considered the favourite in the event.
Having won Olympic gold Number 4, Kaylee’s medal prospects continue to look promising, with the 200m backstroke (arguably her strongest event) coming up, and the 200m individual medley as well.
It has been an eventful series of competitions so far for elite swimmers competing in the Paris Olympics pool, which athletes have pointed out to be shallower than what they’re used to in training and other competitions, a detail they believe to be causing slower swim times overall.
At 2.15m, the Paris pool is above the minimum standard of 2m approved for the Paris Olympics but is now below the new World Aquatics recommended minimum of 2.5m. Experts believe deeper pools maximise performance and result in faster times by minimising the turbulence caused by water displaced by swimmers bouncing off the bottom of the pool.
Road to Greatness
The talented swimmer’s world-class performance has been honed from a junior at Australian Crawl in Burpengary under coach Jodie Morgan. Chris Mooney also worked with her for many years until she joined the Griffith University Swim Club under Michael Bohl.
It was her sister, Taylor, however, that inspired her to greatness.
Taylor began competitive swimming at the age of nine and by 15 years old, she had won the national 100m and 200m breaststroke titles. Two years later, she won gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games 200m breaststroke final, beating fellow Aussie Sally Hunter in Glasgow.
In 2015, Taylor helped the 4x100m medley relay team to win a World Championship bronze. By 2016, they went one better in the Rio Olympics where Taylor and the team finished second in the 4x100m medley relay.
2016 was a big year for the McKeown sisters. While Taylor performed and won a silver in the biggest stage of all, Kaylee was in Hawaii at the Pan Pacific Junior Championships, her first major international competition representing Australia. She won the 200m backstroke; finished 3rd in the 100m; and 17th in the 200m medley.
Within a year, Kaylee made the jump to senior competition and helped secure a silver medal in the World Championships in Budapest for the 4x100m mixed medley relay. She also finished 4th in the 200m backstroke, as well as 16th in the 400m medley.
Her coach, Chris Mooney, had a long term plan for Kaylee. Rather than push her too hard during her final year at St Paul’s Lutheran in Caboolture, he gave her room to complete her studies by setting a weekly routine of five training schedules rather than the standard ten.
This meant 2018 saw limited improvement for a while. Even by 2019 Kaylee’s performances were similar to 2017, though silver in the 2019 World Championship 200m backstroke was a major breakthrough.
In August 2020, Kaylee’s dad, Sholto, died after fighting brain cancer for two years. “I’ll always be with you” was tattooed on her foot as a permanent reminder of her dad. It became her biggest motivator.
The delayed Tokyo Olympics did not suit most athletes but for Kaylee, it seemed to have been an extra year of training and growth.
She absolutely nailed Tokyo, winning the 100m backstroke in a new Olympic record, becoming the first Australian female gold medalist in backstroke. She then won the 200m backstroke and then completed her hat-trick of gold medals by swimming the backstroke leg of the 4x100m medley relay.
Three Olympic medals at the age of 20; now four at the age of 23. Could that become five or six in 2024?
Published 31-July-2024
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