2023 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – ATHENS
- Friday, October 13th – Sunday, October 15th
- Athens, Greece
- LCM (50m)
- Prelims 9:00am (EEST)/ 2:oo am (EDT)
- Finals 6:00 pm (EEST)/ 11:00 am (EDT)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
22-year-old Kaylee McKeown stamped her authority on the backstroke races at the Athens World Cup stop. On the final day of the meet, McKeown won the 200 backstroke in a new World Cup record. She earned her win in 2:06.02, undercutting the 2:06.47 mark that she set at the first stop of the series in Berlin, Germany.
McKeown is now six-for-six in backstroke World Cup records at this year’s World Cup. She’s undefeated in the backstroke events and won this race easily, touching 1.99 seconds ahead of 2nd-place Katie Grimes.
McKeown’s 200 Back WC Record Splits
| Athens | Berlin | |
| 50 | 29.29 | 29.57 |
| 100 | 1:01.26 (31.97) | 1:01.73 (32.16) |
| 150 | 1:33.58 (32.32) | 1:34.23 (32.50) |
| 200 | 2:06.02 (32.44) | 2:06.47 (32.24) |
Compared to her Berlin record-setting swim, McKeown was faster on her first three 50s in Athens. “I just wanted to take it out a little bit harder and see if I could hold on,” McKeown said after the session. She’ll have another chance to lower the World Cup record at the final stop of the series next weekend in Budapest, Hungary.
There, McKeown will be aiming for a Triple-Triple Crown: a complete sweep of the 50/100/200 backstroke at all three World Cup stops. She and Qin Haiyang are both vying for that honor this year; last year, Nic Fink earned that honor in the breaststrokes. Both McKeown and Qin swept the 50/100/200 of their stroke in Fukuoka, becoming the first swimmers in history to achieve the feat at a World Championships.
In addition, McKeown will also have a pair of world records in her sights. Earlier this weekend, she rattled both the 50 and 100 backstroke world records. In the 50, she became the 2nd fastest performer all time with an Oceanic record of 27.02, just .04 seconds off the world record. Then in the 100 back, she blazed 57.63, missing her own mark from 2021 by just .18 seconds.
Grimes also had an incredible race. She can literally swim everything.
She’s on 117.7/120 possible points. Next best is Zhang on 110.5. Given she has four events, it’s basically impossible for her to lose this
It is essentially impossible for her to lose at this point unless she gets DQ’d twice. No one else has won three golds at either stop and Kaylee has done it at both, as well as getting the most FINA points at both.
Been my favourite Aussie swimmer for a while now. How she swims so fast in-season is incredible. Her starts are amazing and her stroke rate is nuts over 100m. I think she’s on a trajectory for a 56 next year, she’s the right age and her training looks to be going next-level.
Please give us a WR (or even 2!?) in Budapest. Obviously the 200 is out of the question but she’s so close in the sprints!
I hope kaylee gets the 50 in budapest! 100 and 200 would be awesome too
money wise she should save the WR’s for the World Championships in Doha. I dont if she’s going beacause of australian trials
This lady just knows how to race. I just don’t see anybody beating her in backstroke anytime soon
Kaylee got a segment on the Australian version of 60 Minutes last night.
YouTube it.
Worth watching. She is so likable and down to earth.