World Championships, Day 7 Finals: Kaylee McKeown Rides Blazing Back Half to 200 Back Title, Third-Fastest Time Ever
There’s no stopping Kaylee McKeown in international backstroke finals. The 24-year-old Australian has a winning streak in the 100 and 200 back dating back to the Tokyo Olympics, and she has maintained that streak in Singapore with arguably her best-ever results in international waters. Just like in the 100 back earlier this week, McKeown overcame a spirited effort from longtime American rival Regan Smith to win her sixth individual world title.
McKeown and Smith have been competing in this event since the 2019 World Championships, and they are the only swimmers to ever swim below 2:04. In an unusual occurrence, the two swimmers were separated by four lanes in the final after they cruised through the semifinal round, but the pace picked up when medals were on the line.
Smith jumped on the pace in the early stages of the race, flipping in 28.95 at the first turn and 1:00.61 at the halfway point while leaving McKeown seven tenths behind. Smith largely maintained her pace throughout the event, but McKeown flipped the switch on the third length and pulled up even with Smith. One more burst of speed awaited on the final 50, and McKeown pulled away while putting a last-second scare into her own world record.
McKeown hit the wall in 2:03.33, just 0.19 slower than the world record she set in March 2023 and the third-fastest swim ever recorded. She clipped Smith’s championship record of 2:03.35 set in 2019. McKeown added to the world titles she won in the event in 2022 and 2023 as well as her Olympic gold medals in Tokyo and Paris, meaning she has now topped the podium in this event at major meets for five consecutive years.
“I wasn’t feeling too great heading in, a bit of illness and stuff going around, dealing with a bit of a shoulder. I had to put my best foot forward tonight, I dug really deep, and I’m really happy with the time that I posted,” McKeown said. “Something I’ve been really working on is focusing on my own race. I think it really helped me on the outside lane, not seeing the other girls around me, and just really focusing on what I’ve been working on.”
Regan Smith, Kaylee McKeown and Claire Curzan with their medals from the 200 backstroke — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
This marks the seventh occasion that McKeown has gone below 2:04 and her fastest ever recorded outside of her home country. The world record did not look to be in play until she exploded for a 30.83 final length. She came close to putting together an even-split race, with a time of 1:01.34 on the opening 100 meters and 1:01.99 coming back.
“I think consistency comes from training. You’ve got to be able to swim a consistent level in training, and practise day in and day out what you want to do in a race. And it doesn’t just come together in a race like that without putting the time and effort into really mastering your craft in the training environment, and that’s exactly what I did today,” McKeown said.
“Everyone always asks if I’m going for a world record anytime I get into the water. It’s the last thing that comes to my mind. For me, I have to follow my processes, and if I get a world record, so be it, that’s great. If not, so be it, that’s great. It’s just a matter of me doing me and following my processes.”
Smith grabbed second in 2:04.29, easily the second-quickest time in the world for 2024 and a time that only three women (McKeown, Smith and Missy Franklin) have ever surpassed. Although McKeown overtook her big lead, Smith’s splits were consistently in the 31.6-31.8 range throughout the race, with no pronounced fading down the stretch.
Smith finished her individual program with four silver medals, the most of any swimmer this week in Singapore. She has been denied gold thanks to stellar performances by McKeown (100 and 200 back), Summer McIntosh (200 fly) and Katharine Berkoff (200 back), but Smith has been consistently pleased with the times she has posted after training less this season compared to her norm.
“I thought it was as good as it could go for me this year at this meet,” Smith said. “I was about a second off my PB in my 200 fly so I thought if I could put together a good race tonight, I’d be about a second off my last 200 backstroke and I was. Good execution and honestly a really great time. My fastest time the season before that was 2:05.8, so the bar was low but still a good swim for me.”
Joining McKeown and Smith on the podium was Claire Curzan, also of the United States, who came in at 2:06.04. Curzan stuck with the two favorites in the early going, and even as she fell off down the stretch, she still placed more than a second ahead of the fourth-place swimmer, China’s Peng Xuwei (2:07.22).
“It was a pretty good race,” Curzan said. “I felt pretty strong through prelims and semi-finals and was hoping for a best time, but I’m proud of how it was executed, all things considered.”
McKeown remains unstoppable, but the power of American depth in women’s backstroke cannot be overlooked. Silver and bronze here gave the Americans the maximum six medals in the stroke in Singapore. Since the 50-meter stroke evets were added to the World Championships in 2001, no country had ever won six medals in a single stroke for the women. Previously, the American men won six backstroke medals in 2022.
“It’s really special, it’s been a while since we had two Americans on the podium in the 200 backstroke,” Smith said. “It’s 2025 and we have 3 years until the big dance (the Los Angeles Olympics), so that is something we absolutely want to repeat in the years going forward. But this is awesome, great swim for Claire and a great swim for me, and it gives us good momentum.”
Wonderful Kaylee does it yet again!
Surely without question the absolute GOAT of Backstroke!
May her crushing dominance continue into the next Olympics and beyond to maybe Brisbane in 32!