Kaylee McKeown Enters New LCM 200 Back Territory: 2:04.49 For #3 Ever

2020 QUEENSLAND MEDAL SHOTS

  • Friday, November 13th – Sunday, November 15th
  • Brisbane Aquatic Center, QLD, AUS
  • LCM (50m)
  • Live Results

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown already threw down the fastest 100m backstroke mark of her career en route to a new national record yesterday and the teen was back at it in the 200m back tonight.

Yesterday while competing at the 2020 Queensland Medal Shots Long Course Preparation Meet, USC Spartan McKeown scorched a new lifetime best of 58.11 to overtake Olympian Emily Seebohm‘s longstanding Aussie standard of 58.23 put on the books at the 2012 Olympic Games. You can read more about McKeown’s 100m back stunner here.

McKeown entered an entirely new level in the 2back tonight, hitting a menacing time of 2:04.49. That not only laid waste to her previous career-quickest of 2:05.83 from just this past January, but it marks the first time an Aussie woman has ever gotten under the 2:05 barrier in the event.

Seebohm held the Aussie national standard with the 2:05.68 she produced for gold at the 2017 World Championships. That was a special swim for mainstay Seebohm, as she represented her nation’s sole individual event medal there in Budapest.

Flash forward to tonight and McKeown split 29.74/31.91 (1:01.65); 31.81/31.03 (1:02.84) to register her historic 2:04.49. She not only becomes Australia’s fastest performer in history in this LCM 200 back but the teen now checks-in among the world’s best-ever, situating herself in slot #3.

Top Women’s LCM 200 Back Performers All-Time

  1. Regan Smith (USA), 2:03.35 2019
  2. Missy Franklin (USA), 2:04.06 2012
  3. Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 2:04.49 2020
  4. Kirsty Coventry (ZIM), 2:04.81 2009
  5. Anastasia Fesikova (RUS), 2:04.94 2009

McKeown took silver in this 2back event at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships behind World Record-setter Regan Smith of the United States. Smith hit 2:03.69 for gold after producing a WR of 2:03.35 in the semifinals while McKeown posted 2:06.26 for silver in Gwangju.

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kevin
3 years ago

Be interesting to see how she performs in the 200 i.m

Virtus
3 years ago

Crazy how differently her and rwgan split the race

swimfast
3 years ago

this has to be the swim of the year so far. last year, Smith’s 2:03 was undoubtedly the swim of the year; and in 2012 Franklin’s 2:04 was one of the, if not the, swim of the year. Do not be fooled by the lack of WR, this swim is one of the greats

swimfan210_
3 years ago

Insane!

5wimmer
3 years ago

Insane! Tough year, but shows her toughness – Congrats Kaylee

Jonathankkh
3 years ago

I am really impressed with the way she has been consistently able to evenly split her races(1:01.65 – 1:02.84, the last 100 was actually faster than Smith’s 1:02.98 when she set the world record last year).
Wouldn’t be surprised if she manages to win both backstroke events against Smith next year at the Olympics as long as she maintains the ability to close fast in the last 50…got to love all these back-half swimmers!

Last edited 3 years ago by Jonathankkh
PhillyMark
Reply to  Jonathankkh
3 years ago

i would be quite surprised. great swim nonetheless

commonwombat
Reply to  PhillyMark
3 years ago

What happens next year is unknowable at this stage. What these performances from McKeown HAVE “stated” is that the 2 female backstroke events may not be the “engrave her name on the gold” certainties for Smith that some put forward.

These 2 swims from McKeown may turn out to be “that one special moment in time” but conversely this may herald further steps forward.

Was Atherton’s Worlds performance, as well as her recordbreaking ISL season 1, another breakthrough only to plateau or does she have more to say ? As yet, we have no evidence to hand either way.

Will Smith, as some hope, proceed to take the WR in these events into territory untouchable for others for year… Read more »

MarkB
Reply to  commonwombat
3 years ago

Nice Fresh Prince reference in the 4th paragraph!

Verram
3 years ago

Wow great time .. so I’m assuming that’s also a commonwealth record beating out Kirsty Coventry ?

Verram
Reply to  Verram
3 years ago

Ah ok cool .. so it’s a new commonwealth record nonetheless

Aussieone
Reply to  Verram
3 years ago

Zimbabwe us3d to be in the commonwealth . Coventry did swim in 2002 Comm games .

Tokyo
3 years ago

Coming back in a 1:02 though! Crazy

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having 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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