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Kaylee McKeown delivers American arch-rival another crushing blow

August 2, 2025 - 12.39pm

Yet another race between Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith has resulted in a hammer blow for the American.

Four nights after leaving her arch-rival to pick up silver in the 100m backstroke at the swimming world championships in Singapore, McKeown has done the same in the 200m backstroke.

The Australian surged to victory in two minutes, 3.33 seconds (2:03.33). In doing so, the 24-year-old from the Sunshine Coast set a new world championship record, just as she'd done in the two-lap event earlier in the week.

Smith claimed silver in 2:04.29 as fellow American Claire Curzan grabbed bronze in 2:06.04.

"I wasn't feeling too great heading in — a bit of illness and stuff going around, dealing with a bit of a shoulder [issue]," said McKeown, who suffered a shoulder dislocation in recent weeks.

"I had to put my best foot forward tonight. I dug really deep, and I'm really happy with the time that I posted.

Watch the World Aquatics Championships live and free on Nine and 9Now.

Kaylee McKeown. — Kaylee McKeown celebrates winning gold in the women's 200m backstroke. Getty

"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.

"I don't see a whole lot when I'm racing. I had to ask for my time at the end."

McKeown was seemingly struggling to not spew after the race, as was noted by Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe.

"Kaylee, physically, we can see on that reaction, she'll be OK, but the response, that's lactic acid build-up, and she's trying to keep it down," Thorpe said on the Nine broadcast.

McKeown won the backstroke double at both the Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 Olympics.

And she grabbed the double at the 2023 world championships in Fukuoka, where she also took out the 50m backstroke title to make it a treble of gold medals. She opted against racing the 50m backstroke at the ongoing world titles.

"It's because of that grit and determination that she has," Thorpe said, reflecting on McKeown's remarkable feats.

"You can tell that she visualises in training the way that she's going to swim. She had to swim it by herself, she was out on her own, and she was able to deliver that performance. It was great to see."

McKeown snared gold on Saturday night some 10 minutes after veteran Dolphins teammate Cameron McEvoy had won the men's 50m freestyle.

McEvoy and McKeown delivered the same magical 10-minute window for Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics, 12 months ago to the day.