Kaylee McKeown has added 200m Individual Medley bronze to her golden backstroke double from earlier in the week on a dramatic night in Paris.
Having included the event to her Olympic program for the first time, Kaylee touched the wall in fourth but was later upgraded to the bronze medal after American Alex Walsh was disqualified for an illegal turn.
Already the first Australian athlete across any sport to win four individual gold medals, the 23-year-old now has a total of eight Olympic medals after she claimed another bronze medal in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay shortly after her individual event.
Kaylee’s time of 2:08.08 was behind gold medallist, Canadian teenage superstar Summer McIntosh, who swam an Olympic record 2:06.56 and American Kate Douglass who won silver in 2:06.92.
Swimming from lane one, Kaylee was sixth after the butterfly leg before making her move on her preferred stroke to turn second after the backstroke leg. She was in fourth place as they turned for home after breaststroke, and while unable to catch the leaders, it was enough to land her on the podium.
Unfortunately, Queensland 20-year-old Ella Ramsay was forced to withdraw from the final due to illness after contracting Covid.
Kaylee was back in the water soon after in the Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay alongside Joshua Yong, Matthew Temple and Mollie O’Callaghan where they claimed a bronze medal.
The USA won gold in World Record time of 3:37.43 from China in 3:37.55, and Australia was third in 3:38.76.
Mollie, who still has the medley relay to come on the final day of competition, said she was happy to give it her all for her country and her teammates.
“I had a little bit of disappointment in the 100m Freestyle so just had to think of it as another opportunity to swim for my country and do the best that I can,” she said.
“This is my first time doing a mixed medley so it was quite cool, quite an honour, so I just had to swim my heart out and touch a wall for these guys no matter what I’m going to give it my all.
“Every moment is special to me, I’ve got to share it with many people especially in the relays, it’s such an honour to even get a chance to step on the podium.”
Reece Homfray
