{"id":534238,"date":"2023-07-29T05:34:49","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T12:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=534238"},"modified":"2023-07-29T15:33:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T22:33:35","slug":"world-championships-day-seven-200m-backstroke-kaylee-mckeown-sweeps-the-backstrokes-and-australias-12th-gold-medal-of-the-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-day-seven-200m-backstroke-kaylee-mckeown-sweeps-the-backstrokes-and-australias-12th-gold-medal-of-the-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships, Day Seven, 200m Backstroke: Kaylee McKeown Sweeps The Backstrokes Winning Australia’s 12th Gold Medal of The Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships, Day Seven, 200m Backstroke: Kaylee McKeown Sweeps The Backstrokes And Australia’s 12th Gold Medal of The Meet<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia’s triple Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown<\/strong> has swum her way to exhaustion and into the World Championship history books, becoming the first woman to sweep the 50, 100 and tonight the 200m backstroke in a fighting Fukuoka finish – and the 12th gold medal of what has been a dynamic Dolphins campaign.<\/p>\n

The defending champion, coached by the master Michael Bohl<\/strong> out of the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, powered home over the final 50 metres to win in a time of 2:03.85 (29.11; 1:00.81; 1:32.33) to again leave US rival Regan Smith<\/strong> to savour her third silver medal in 2:04.94 (28.96; 1:00.26; 1:32.25) b with China’s Peng Xuwei,<\/strong> sixth last year, winning a deserved bronze in 2:06.74 (29.28; 1:01.29);l 1:33.93).<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old swam her way to near collapse, timing her final 50m to perfection, after her US rival Smith had pushed the limit, leading \u00a0through the first 150 metres.<\/p>\n

\"Kaylee

THREE OF A KIND: And all Aces for Australia’s backstroking golden girl Kaylee McKeown. Photo Courtesy: Channel 9 (Australia)<\/p><\/div>\n

But McKeown, who became the first woman to win the 50 and 100m backstroke double had to dig deeper than she has ever done before – narrowing the gap from 0.85 at the 50m turn to 0.08 on the final turn – and with 25 metres to swim, her legs burning like never before in a race, powered her way past Smith and into the annals of World Championship history.<\/p>\n

On winning the backstroke treble, McKeown said: “It\u2019s something that I never thought I\u2019d be able to do, and it\u2019s something that I definitely didn\u2019t have in the back of my mind.<\/p>\n

“So I think coming into every meet, I would just have a positive mindset and try to tick off the boxes through heats, semis to finals. To be on the podium and not only just for me but for my Australian teammates is such a surreal moment.”<\/p>\n

McKeown’s time was the sixth fastest in history – giving her seven of the fastest 11 times ever swum, asserting herself as the premier woman backstroker with the 2024 Paris Olympics just less than 12 months away.<\/p>\n

It was McKeown’s fourth individual World Championship gold medal and her fifth overall medal, becoming the fourth woman to go back-to-back in the 200m backstroke, joining fellow Australian Emily Seebohm<\/strong> who won the double in 2015 in Kazan, also defending her title in Budapest in 2017.<\/p>\n

Australia has in fact won four off the last five 200m backstroke crowns – Seebohm in ’15 and ’17 and McKeown in ’22 and 23 – with Smith taking out 2019 in Gwangju.<\/p>\n