Australian swimming superstar Kaylee McKeown has announced that she will return to the Sunshine Coast to train with the University of the Sunshine Coast Spartans.
She made the announcement on her Instagram account on Thursday morning after scratching the 200 backstroke, one of her primary events, at the Australian Open (which is not the selection meet for this year’s World Championships).
McKeown, 23, has spent the last 3 years training at Griffith University. That program also recently saw the departure of one of its other stars, Lani Pallister, whose mom is a coach there. She left to train with Dean Boxall at St. Peter’s Western.
British coach Mel Marshall, most famous for her work with World Record holding British breaststroker Adam Peaty, is the current coach at Griffith and has been McKeown’s trainer, albeit through a post-Olympic period where she has taken some breaks from competition. Marshall took over the role after legendary coach Michael Bohl had a brief retirement ‘test’ before taking a position in China.
The school is located about 50 minutes north of her native Redcliffe, Queensland, and her older sister and fellow Olympian Taylor McKeown already commented “I guess this means I’ll be seeing you more” on the post. Griffith is located about the same distance in the other direction from Redcliffe.
McKeown will be coached by Michael Sage, who took over the USC program in December 2024 after Michael Palfrey was fired for his comments supporting a South Korean swimmer during the Paris Olympics (he also popped up in China).
She has never been afraid of making training changes: after winning gold in the 100 and 200 backstroke at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the first Australian woman to win a backstroke event at the Olympics, she moved mid-quad to train with Bohl – and won both again in Paris.
She had even more success after the move, becoming the first woman to break the long course World Records and the 50, 100, and 200 meter backstroke during her career, and the first woman to hold them concurrently as well.
In 2024, she became the first woman to successfully defend the 100 and 200 backstroke Olympic Games.
As she heads into the peak years of her career, she’s on the move again. She will join a club where she will be far-and-away the star, but that has a lot of young talent. Among USC’s current big names include Alex Perkins, who won three medals at Short Course Worlds in December; three-time Australian Olympic relay bronze medalist Zac Incerti; Olympic 200 butterflier Abbey Connor; Commonwealth Games sprinter Tom Novakowski; and a group of national age medalists.
The program is also home to a large number of Paralympians, including Emily Beecroft, Liam Schluter, Jenna Jones, and 7-time Paralympic medalist Lakeisha Patterson.
Alex Perkins is one of her best friends, and are now training partners again. They roomed together in Paris
Wonder why
Still don’t get why US schools train so many foreigners. Not mad about it, love the growth of the sport. But we train so many foreigners that dominate against us. Marchand, Liendo, Kharun, McIntosh, Johnny Marshall, etc.
The answer is very obvious (apart from school age summer). U can get a free degree, and free living from doing sport full time. No where else in the world really does that. In Australia, if you don’t have immediate potential to make a senior team when u finish high school, 99% simply quit competitive swimming and start their adult life. College swimming like grows the talent pool x1000 for the US. Anywhere else in the world, high schoolers quit swimming as there is no opportunity. Or, an Australian can try get a US scholarship and continue swimming and get a free degree 🤷♂️
What’s that got to do with this post? She’s not going to that the American USC.
they didn’t even read the full headline
Leon Marchand was in Australia for 3 months to swim with SPW.
To improve his freestyle.
Sagey is a great guy and coach, but has never really been seen as a top, top tier coach.
But I guess if he has Kaylee in his program and happy he is about to be seen as one
Note that no elite swimmer has left his squad since he took over!
Great to see some emerging coaches being given opportunities to make an impact. Michael Sage coaching Kaylee McKeown at USC, Shaun Curtis coaching Kyle Chalmers at Marion. Maybe Swimming Australia have realised that looking after their own is a better option than continually importing coaches from the old country.
Seems like the wheels are falling off the Mel Marshall experiment already. Griffith Uni swimming is now in a shambles, with only breaststrokers staying there. Bohl cannot be replaced.
The Mel Marshall affect
USC is a hub for the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) with all the associated medical staff ECT all at her disposal as well as first class pool and gym facilities. A lot of reasons for her to head back there if she was going to move anywhere, so it might make a little more sense with that context.
I think the Griffith Uni swimmers get a lot of support.
Yes the Griffith Uni swimmers do get a lot of associated and external QAS support as well, but if you are moving somewhere then I say USC is not a bad choice.