Emma McKeon Earns 100 Fly Rio Redemption With Commonwealth Record

2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tonight’s women’s 100m butterfly final in Budapest was one for the ages, as Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom rocked another monster gold medal-winning time of 55.53, the 2nd fastest time in history only to herself. However, winning silver in the race was a big-time swim from Australian Emma McKeon, the woman who tied her nation’s record last night in the semi-final with a time of 56.23. In tonight’s final McKeon found a way to shave an additional .05 off that mark to snag silver in a new Commonwealth and Australian National Record of 56.18.

Last night’s splits 26.43/29.80 = 56.23
Tonight’s splits 26.34/29.84 = 56.18

That now places McKeon solely in the 4th spot among the women’s top performers of all-time in the event.

WOMEN 100 FLY ALL-TIME PERFORMERS

  1. Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 55.48, 2016
  2. Dana Vollmer (USA), 55.98, 2012
  3. Liu Zige (CHN), 56.07, 2009
  4. Emma McKeon (AUS), 56.18, 2017
  5. Jessicah Schipper (AUS), 56.23, 2017
  6. Kelsi Worrell (USA), 56.44, 2017
  7. Penny Oleksiak (CAN), 56.46, 2016
  8. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN), 56.51, 2014
  9. (T-9) Inge de Bruijn (NED), 56.61, 2000
  10. (T-9) Chen Xinyi (CHN), 56.61, 2014

For McKeon, tonight’s silver is in some ways redemption for a missed opportunity in Rio. Although she scored a bronze individually in the women’s 200m freestyle, McKeon entered the 2016 Olympic Games as a strong medal contender in the women’s 100m fly, only to finish 6th in a time 57.05, slower than her semi-final.

This is McKeon’s 2nd silver in as many days here in Budapest, as the 23-year-old already captured a runner-up spot with teammates as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay last night.

 

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nlm78
6 years ago

Fantastic effort Emma!

Iain
6 years ago

Judging by their performances so far, McKeon may give Ledecky a shock in the 200m free.

SwimJon
6 years ago

Yeah – she earned that one. Happy to see that.

Prickle
6 years ago

Emma McKeon’s performances at 100 distance (free and fly) should raise a real concern to Americans of what can be expected in 200 free. I hope that in contrast to last year she pays more attention to shorter distance when she became #2 to represent Australia.
First two days showed that Emma is in great shape. Maybe best ever. Last year she was twice in very prestigious 1:54 zone. But remembering Sjostrom experience in Rio she may decide to save herself for the 100 free where she has a good chance to medal and won’t kill herself in 200.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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