2023 Swammy Awards: Oceanian Female Swimmer of the Year – Kaylee McKeown

See all of our 2023 Swammy Awards here.

OCEANIAN FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: KAYLEE MCKEOWN, AUSTRALIA

It was a standout year for Australian women in the pool, as they won nearly a third of the gold medals up for grabs at the 2023 World Championships.

That included six individual titles, and winning three of them, and following up with an equally impressive back-half of the year, was Kaylee McKeown, earning Oceanian Female Swimmer of the Year honors for the second straight year.

McKeown has been one of the world’s best swimmers for years, but established herself as arguably the best in 2023.

She kicked things into high gear early on, setting a new world record in the women’s 200 backstroke at the New South Wales State Open Championships in March, clocking 2:03.14 to take out Regan Smith‘s mark of 2:03.35 set in 2019.

In setting the 200 back world record, McKeown became the first female swimmer in history to hold the Olympic, Commonwealth, long course world and short world titles, and the LC and SC world records, in the same event concurrently. The only other swimmer to accomplish this feat was fellow Aussie Grant Hackett in the men’s 1500 freestyle.

One month later, McKeown made some noise at the Australian Championships in April, reeling off numerous impressive swims including a 2:24.18 showing in the 200 breaststroke, ranking her #8 all-time among Australians.

In May, competing at the Australian World Trials, McKeown clocked a blistering personal best of 2:07.19 in the 200 IM, ranking her #7 all-time, logged another sub-2:04 swim in the 200 back (2:03.70), and came within five one-hundredths of her world record in the 100 back (57.50).

Then came the 2023 World Championships, where McKeown went 3-0 in her head-to-head trilogy with Smith, setting a new Commonwealth Record in the 50 back (27.08), a new Championship Record in the 100 back (57.53) and finishing things off with a dominant victory in the 200 back (2:03.85), becoming the first female swimmer to sweep the 50/100/200 of the same stroke at the World Championships—China’s Qin Haiyang became the first swimmer to do so in men’s breaststroke one day earlier.

McKeown won two more medals on the Aussie medley relays, leading off the mixed team in 58.03 as they claimed silver behind China, and then finishing the meet with a 57.91 backstroke leg on the women’s medley relay that were the runners-up to the United States.

All of these accolades come without mentioning the 200 IM, where McKeown was denied a chance to vie for the world title after she was controversially disqualified in the semi-finals.

For many of the world’s best, the end of the World Championships effectively closed the book on their high-level competition schedule for 2023, at least in long course meters, but not McKeown.

The 22-year-old resurfaced just a few months later at the World Cup, absolutely dominating the three-stop series.

Not only did McKeown win the women’s 50, 100 and 200 back at all three stops, earning a trio of “Triple Crown” bonuses, but she set new world records in the 50 back (26.86) and 100 back (57.33), giving her the distinction of having set the fastest time ever in all three distances in the same year.

All told, in 2023, she swam three of the five fastest times ever in the 50 back, four of the eight fastest times ever in the 100 back, and three of the eight fastest times ever in the 200 back.

McKeown’s 2023 Performances That Rank Top 10 All-Time

• Women’s 50 Back
  • 26.86 – #1
  • 27.02 – #3
  • 27.08 – #5
• Women’s 100 Back
  • 57.33 – #1
  • 57.50 – #4
  • 57.53 – #5
  • 57.63 – #7 (tie)
• Women’s 200 Back
  • 2:03.14 – #1
  • 2:03.70 – #4
  • 2:04.18 – #8

Her swim in the 200 IM from May wasn’t far off the top 10 either, as McKeown’s 2:07.19 from the Sydney Open is the 16th fastest ever and puts her #8 on the all-time performers’ list (was #7 at the time).

On top of her world records in the backstroke events, McKeown also ranks inside the top 30 in the world for the calendar year in five other events.

McKeown’s Top 50 World Rankings, 2023

• 50 back – #1 (26.86)
• 100 back – #1 (57.33)
• 200 back – #1 (2:03.14)
• 200 IM – #3 (2:07.19)
• 400 IM – #3 (4:31.68)
• 200 free – #17 (1:56.14)
• 200 breast – #20 (2:24.18)
• 100 breast – #29 (1:06.86)

McKeown wasn’t just the best Oceanian female swimmer this year, her 2023 was one of the best from any swimmer in recent memory.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – Imagine breaking one of the most elusive super-suited world records on the books and winning five World Championship titles and still not being the best swimmer in your own country for the year. O’Callaghan was an absolute force in Fukuoka, with her crowning achievement being the women’s 200 freestyle, where she won the world title over reigning Olympic champion and Australian teammate Ariarne Titmus in a time of 1:52.85, breaking the historic world record of 1:52.98 established by Federica Pellegrini at the 2009 World Championships. O’Callaghan, who moved up one spot on the podium in the 200 free after earning silver in 2022, also successfully defended her title in the 100 free in a time of 52.16. On top of her two individual titles, the 19-year-old also played a prominent role on three world-record-setting relays for Australia at the World Championships, leading off the women’s 400 free relay (3:27.96) in 52.08, the 800 free relay (7:37.50) in 1:53.66, and anchoring the mixed medley relay (3:18.83) in 51.71. She added a sixth medal in the women’s medley relay, anchoring them home in 51.95 to earn silver. Overall, 10 world records were broken at the meet and O’Callaghan factored in four of them. In addition to ranking #1 in the 200 free and #2 in the 100 free, O’Callaghan also finishes 2023 as the 5th-fastest swimmer in the 100 back (58.42), 24th in the 50 free (24.64) and 33rd in the 400 free (4:07.21).
• Ariarne Titmus (AUS) – Many were critical of Titmus’ decision to sit out of the 2022 World Championships and forgo a chance to race head-to-head with Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, but one year later, she delivered in a big way. In a marquee showdown with the defending world champion in Ledecky and the newly-minted world record holder in McIntosh, Titmus, the reigning Olympic champion, dominated the women’s 400 free at the 2023 World Championships, shattering McIntosh’s world record by seven-tenths in a time of 3:55.38. The most anticipated race of the meet ended up being a non-event, with Titmus winning by more than three seconds. She followed that up by coming within three one-hundredths of Federica Pellegrini‘s super-suited world record in the final of the women’s 200 free, only to be outdone by countrymate Mollie O’Callaghan. Behind O’Callaghan’s world record swim of 1:52.85, Titmus claimed silver in 1:53.01, the third-fastest swim in history. The then 22-year-old also won bronze in the 800 free in Fukuoka, matching her Commonwealth and Oceanic Record of 8:13.59, and in a swim that was arguably as impressive as her world record in the 400 free, she anchored the Australian 800 free relay home in 1:52.41, the fastest split ever, as they torched the world record in 7:37.50. Finishing the year ranked #1 in the 400 free, #2 in the 200 free and #3 in the 800 free, Titmus also ranks 23rd in the 1500 free (16:13.46) and 43rd in the 100 free (54.26) in 2023.

Previous Winners:

• 2022 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
• 2021 – Emma McKeon, Australia
• 2020 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
• 2019 – Ariarne Titmus, Australia
• 2018 – Ariarne Titmus, Australia
• 2017 – Emily Seebohm, Australia
• 2016 – Cate Campbell, Australia
• 2015 – Emily Seebohm, Australia
• 2014 – Cate Campbell, Australia
• 2013 – Cate Campbell, Australia