Saturday 21 / December / 2024
Adelaide: Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown broke American Regan Smith's world record in the 100m backstroke, clocking 57.45 seconds to win her Olympic Trials on Sunday.
19-year-old, McKeown improved the of 57:57 previous world record held by Regan Smith by more than a tenth of a second. "THAT IS A NEW WORLD RECORD FOR KAYLEE MCKEOWN. Clocking in a 57.45 in the women's 100m backstroke the 19-year-old has marked her name in history. #2021AusTrials," Swimming Australia tweeted.
"Obviously can't believe it," said McKeown, who became the fourth different woman to break the 100m back mark since July 2017.
"I just wanted to come in tonight and blow out the cobwebs."
Emily Seebohm (58.59) came a second behind McKeown and qualified for her record fourth Olympic Games campaign. Mollie O'Callaghan finished third in a time of 58.86.
Kaylee McKeown's father, Sholto, died last August from brain cancer and McKeown said that drove her to succeed.
"With COVID and the passing of my dad in August last year, it has been a huge, huge build-up to these trials," she said.
"And I have turned it into a bit of hunger and motivation behind me. I use it every day that I wake up. I know it's a privilege to be on this earth and walk and talk. So to get up and do that tonight is not really for me but my family."
"I think he'd be really proud," she added.
