Kaylee McKeown Crushes 2:04.57 200 Back In 2025 Racing Debut

2025 NSW STATE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, March 21st – Sunday, March 23rd
• Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview #1
• SwimSwam Preview #2
• Final Entries
• Live Results

The 2025 New South Wales State Open Championships kicked off today from the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

The three-day affair represents the return of Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown, with the 23-year-old racing in her first meet after having withdrawn from the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup series last October to tend to her mental health.

McKeown took on the women’s 200m backstroke tonight where she fired off a big-time swim of 2:04.57 to handily take the gold.

After cruising to a top-seeded casual swim of 2:10.51 in the morning heats, McKeown crushed splits of 29.36/31.78/32.01/31.42 to put the world on notice.

The next-closest swimmer, Allanah Banks, got to the wall nearly 11 seconds behind in 2:15.41 while Abbey Kearney rounded out the podium in 2:17.29.

As for McKeown, her 2:04.57 result checks in as the 19th-swiftest performance of all time. It also puts the Griffith University superstar well ahead of the best swimmers on the planet this season, holding a nearly two-second advantage over China’s Peng Xuwei who logged a season-best 2:06.54 last night at the Chinese Spring National Championships.

Also making some noise on day one was 24-year-old Alexandria Perkins of USC Spartans.

Perkins stopped the clock at a time of 25.66 this morning in the heats of the women’s 50m butterfly, ripping a new personal best in the process.

Entering this competition, Perkins’ career-quickest mark rested at the 25.81 punched last year. That means she sliced .15 off that previous PB to become Australia’s 5th-swiftest woman in history.

Top 5 Australian Women’s LCM 50 Butterfly Performers All-Time

1. Holly Barratt – 25.31, 2019
2. Cate Campbell – 25.47, 2018
3. Marieke Guehrer – 25.48, 2009
4. Maddie Groves – 25.54, 2018
5. Alexandria Perkins – 25.66, 2025

Perkins wound up adding slightly in the final, producing 25.72 to still claim the gold.

Visiting swimmer Louise Hansson of Sweden scored silver in 26.16 and Mackenzie Burns bagged bronze in 26.54.

Perkins dethroned Belgium’s Roos Vanotterdijk to wear this season’s world rankings crown.

The women’s 100m free saw Brittany Castelluzzo secure the victory, registering a winning effort of 54.68.

The 24-year-old opened in 26.46 and closed in 28.22 to hold off Perkins who touched .18 later in 54.86. Jaimie De Lutiis rounded out the podium in 55.10.

Tea Tree Gully’s Castelluzzo established a new lifetime best with her performance this evening, overtaking her previous best-ever swim of 54.79 put on the books just last month at the National LC Prep Meeting.

Perkins’ silver medal-worthy outing was within striking distance of her PB of 54.54 notched nearly 3 years ago.

William Yang did damage in the men’s 100m free, putting up the field’s sole sub-49-second performance.

Yang topped the podium in 48.93, dropping .05 from his morning swim of 48.98 which garnered him the top seed.

18-year-old Marcus Da Silva was next to the wall in 49.49 while Thomas Nowakowski and Matt Temple touched simultaneously in 49.73 to share bronze.

Olympian Sam Williamson was in the water, contesting the men’s 50m breaststroke, the event in which he owns the national record (26.32, 2024).

Williamson stopped the clock at 26.82, just off his season-best of 26.66 turned in at last month’s Victorian Open Championshps to rank #1 in the world.

Williamson was the only swimmer tonight to delve under the 27-second barrier. Germany’s Lucas Matzerath hit 27.70 for silver and Nash Wilkes earned third-place honors in 27.92.

Additional Notes

• TSS Aquatics’ Lachlan Walker posted a time of 3:54.18 to strike gold in the men’s 400m free, holding off Matthew Galea who hit 3:54.58 immediately behind for silver.
• 16-year-old Henry Allan established a new Australian Age Record en route to winning the men’s 50m back. He touched in 25.00 to shave .05 off his previous record of 25.05 nabbed at the Victorian Country Championships in January of this year.
• 21-year-old Tara Kinder put up a time of 1:07.42 to win the women’s 100m breaststroke. 16-year-old Sienna Toohey was right behind in 1:07.56 to capture silver. Kinder’s performance represents a huge personal best, destroying her previous career-quickest result of 1:08.86 from this meet last year.
• Kinder of Melbourne Vicentre doubled up, taking the women’s 400m IM in 4:42.59 for her second new lifetime best of the night. Entering this competition, Kinder’s best 4IM stood at the 4:46.02 notched at last month’s Victorian Open Championships.