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Kaylee Mckeown

Kaylee McKeown

Age

22

Place of Birth

Redcliffe

Hometown

Caboolture

Senior Club

Griffith University SC

Coach

Michael Bohl

Olympic History

Tokyo 2020

Career Events

Swimming Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay

Swimming Womens 100m Backstroke

Swimming Womens 200m Backstroke

Swimming Womens 4 x 100m Medley Relay

 

Kaylee's Story

Fast Facts

Sport: Swimming
Event: 100m Backstroke
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020 (x2 gold & bronze)
Club: Spartans Swim Club
Year Born: 2001
State Born: QLD

About Kaylee

At just 15-years-old Kaylee McKeown joined her older sister Taylor on the Dolphins swim team, as one of their youngest members. 

Kaylee first marked her presence on the international swimming scene in 2017, when she qualified and finished fourth in the final of the World Championships 200m backstroke event. 

Continued strong performances were lodged at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where she finished fourth in the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke in front of a home crowd. 

The rising star went on to compete at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, where she claimed gold in the 50m backstroke, silver in the 100m backstroke and 4x100m medley, and bronze in the 200m backstroke. 

A year later, Kaylee again found herself on the podium at the 2019 World Championships, with the Queensland native winning her first major international medal earning silver in the Women’s 200m backstroke and the Women’s 4x100m medley relay.

It may be that the deferment of the Tokyo Olympics because of Covid-19 suited Kaylee because there is no doubt that she came of age as a formidable international competitor in 2021. In the span of one weekend at the Sydney Open, she established new national backstroke record in the three disciplines, 50, 100m and 200m. With her confidence soaring, she went onto break the 100m backstroke world record at the Australian trials for the Tokyo Games. She also held the fastest time in the 200m individual medley going into Tokyo but decided to drop this event at the Olympics to take some of the strain off her still hectic program.

It proved a masterstroke, with coach Chris Mooney able to focus her attention solely on the backstroke events, which she swept, not only winning the 100m and 200m backstroke gold – Australia’s first in both events – but also the women’s medley relay in which she swam the lead-off leg. She also claimed bronze in the mixed medley relay.

There were more triumphs in 2022 – the 200m backstroke world title in Budapest, the backstroke double at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games amid the four golds and six medals she won there, before ending her year’s work with victory in the 200m backstroke in Melbourne during the world short course meet.

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