2025 Swammy Awards: Oceanian Female Swimmer of the Year — Kaylee McKeown

See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards here.

A star studded Oceanian women’s roster won six of the continent’s eight gold medals in the pool at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, and they were led by Kaylee McKeown, who brought home two individual gold medals and a silver from Singapore.

McKeown has proven herself to be the best backstroker in the world multiple years in a row and she has not lost a major backstroke race at a long course World Championships or Olympic Games since 2019, and 2025 was no different.

She started the year at the New South Wales State Open Championships in March, which was her first meet after she withdrew from the World Cup series in October of 2024 due to her mental health. She stayed out of the water for the rest of 2024, notably missing the Short Course World Championships in December.

At the NSW Championships, she picked up where she left off as the top backstroker in the World. She set world leading times in all three distances of backstroke, swimming 27.06 in the 50 back, 57.16 in the 100 back, and 2:04.57 in the 200 back.

At the end of May, McKeown announced that she would be dropping the 200 IM from her international schedule moving forward as she turned her focus to only racing the backstroke events.

At the 2025 Australian Swimming Trials, she tested her new schedule, but she got off to a rocky start in the 50 backstroke prelims. She set the top time of 27.27, but was disqualified due to a false start following the heat. She was later reinstated after a protest and she swam the top time in the final of 27.33. She also won the 100 back in 57.71 and the 200 back in 2:04.47.

Going into the World Championships, McKeown was the favorite in all three distances of backstroke, but just two days before the start of the meet, she scratched the 50 backstroke leaving her in just the 100 and 200.

McKeown went on to win both events in Singapore, setting a new personal best time and Australian Record in the 100 backstroke, touching in 57.16 to just miss the 57.13 World Record mark set by Regan Smith in June of 2024.

In the 200 backstroke, she swam a season best 2:03.33 to pick up her 2nd individual gold medal of this meet and her 3rd straight World title (excluding the 2024 World Championships).

She also won a silver medal leading off Australia’s women’s 400 medley relay in 57.69. Earlier in the meet, she led off their mixed medley relay, splitting 57.65 en route to Australia’s 5th place finish.

She went on to race at all three SC World Cup stops. At the first stop in Carmel, she set a new best time in the 200 back, swimming 1:58.86 to come within a second off American rival Regan Smith‘s World Record time. She broke the record twice during the latter two stops of the series, swimming 1:57.87 in Westmont and 1:57.33 in Toronto.

She also win the overall title in Toronto along with two triple crowns from the 50 and 200 backstroke events. On the 2nd day of the meet, she also busted Smith’s 100 backstroke crown, setting a new Australian record time of 54.49. Her 50 backstroke in Toronto was also a new Australian record of 25.35.

McKeown remained the best backstroker in the World in 2025, and picked up her 3rd straight and 4th overall Swammy for Oceanian female swimmer of the year.

Honorable Mentions

• Lani Pallister (AUS) — Lani Pallister had a strong 2024, taking 6th in the 800 freestyle in Paris and helping the Australian women win gold in the 800 freestyle relay. She had battled injury, however, and was not on people’s radars as a major gold medal threat in the distance events coming into 2025. She started making headlines at the 2025 Australian Trials when she broke 4:00 for the first time in the 400 freestyle, swimming 3:59.72 to become the 7th fastest performer ever. She followed that performance up with huge swims in the 800 (8:10.84) and 1500 (15:39.14) to move into 3rd all-time in both events. She also swam 1:54.89 in the 200 free to finish 2nd overall. In Singapore, she ended up finishing 4th in the 400 free, dropping more time to swim 3:58.87 and she picked up a bronze in the 1500 with her 15:41.18. She also won a huge silver medal in the women’s 800 freestyle, dropping five more seconds to swim 8:05.98, beating Canadian Summer McIntosh and giving Katie Ledecky a run for her money on the final 50. Her final medal from Worlds came in the 800 freestyle relay where she led off in 1:54.77 to help Australia win the gold medal. That was not the end of her year, though. She raced at all three SC World Cup stops, picking up triple crowns in the 400 free and distance free (alternated between 800 and 1500 by meet). At the final stop in Toronto she shattered Ledecky’s World Record in the 800 freestyle on the final night, swimming 7:54.00 for the win.
• Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) — Mollie O’Callaghan was one of the many swimmers to start 2025 while dealing with an injury. In March, she posted on social media describing her struggles returning from dislocating her knee at the beginning of January. She returned to competition at the 2025 Australian Open Championships in March where she won the 100 free (53.12) and 200 free (1:55.71) events. At the Australian Swimming Trials in June, she again won the 100 free (52.87) and the 200 free (1:54.43 to earn her spot on the World Championships team. She also qualified in the 50 and 100 backstroke, but chose to forego those events in favor of her sprint freestyle. In Singapore at the World Championships, she won the gold medal in the 200 free, swimming a season best 1:53.48 to defend her 2023 World title. She also finished 2nd in the 100 free (52.67) and won gold medals on the Australian 400 free relay, leading off in 52.79 and the 800 free relay, splitting 1:53.44 on the anchor. Finally, she won a silver medal as the anchor for the 400 medley relay (52.23). O’Callaghan also raced at all three World Cup stops, earning the Triple Crown in the 200 freestyle. At the 2nd stop in Westmont, she broke the World Record in the SCM 200 free, swimming 1:49.77, and she lowered that record further to swim 1:49.36 en route to her gold in Toronto. From dislocating her knee in January to a World Record in October, O’Callaghan showed swimming fans what they can expect from her in 2026.

Previous Winners

• 2024 — Kaylee McKeown, Australia
• 2023 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
• 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