At last week’s World Aquatics World Cup Series stop in Budapest, Hungary, Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown showed late-season form in mid-season racing, cracking the World Records in both the 50 meter backstroke and 100 meter backstroke (long course).
Her two World Records in long course earned her a mountain of prize money and put the world, and her chief backstroke rival Regan Smith of the USA, on notice.
McKeown’s strength in the sprint backstrokes is her incredible turnover, and while it doesn’t look as “smooth” as we’re all taught as age groupers, it is a violent, powerful, and efficient stroke that shows off her athleticism – and she doesn’t sacrifice distance-per-stroke to do it.
McKeown is now the World Record holder in all three distances in long course meters, owning the 200 backstroke in 2:03.14.
Watch McKeown’s world record setting swims below.
Kaylee McKeown 100 Back World Record Video
- Article
- New World Record: 57.33
- Old World Record: Kaylee McKeown, Australia, 57.45 (2021 Australian Trials)
Kaylee McKeown 50 Back World Record Video
- Article
- New World Record – 26.86
- Old World Record – 26.98, Liu Xiang, China (2018 Asian Games)
She has noticeably higher tempo and DPS. No wonder she broke WRs.
Can someone please explain to me why World Aquatics would post these race videos with no commentary?
One of the many reasons swimming can’t attract a significant audience outside of the Olympics.
You need good commentary to contextualize accomplishments and build excitement, especially when there’s a world record on the line.
Lacking commentary, these video’s don’t do Kaylee’s achievements justice. Quite frankly, they’re boring to watch, and I say that as a swimming fan. There’s zero chance these clips can go viral.
Meanwhile, the video of Guo Jincheng breaking the world record in the S5 50 m freestyle has over 3 million views on the NBC Sports YouTube channel. Commentary matters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r73EBq1X2YA
I still don’t understand how she was behind the WR line with 20m to go and then somehow ran it down. Amazing.
Also the interviewer saying “I saw a video of your parents watching”… I feel like it’s pretty universally known that her father died.
Yeah I cringed at that comment. She was professional about it as always.
Wasn’t there a rule change recently allowing the last 5 meters to be underwater ?
Holy moly, the power in the last 5 meters of each race is awesome!