Triple Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown motivated by gruelling new challenge

Winning two swimming Olympic gold medals and breaking a world record would persuade most young athletes to focus on their specialist event.

But not Australia’s backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown.

Shortly after recording a time of 57.45 at Australia’s Olympic Trials in 2021 to become the world’s fastest female 100 backstroker ever, she took home the 100 and 200 backtroke Olympic gold medals at Tokyo 2020.

The then teenager also won gold as part of the Australian 400 medley relay team.

READ: Five things to know about swimming sensation Kaylee McKeown

Stepping stones towards Paris 2024

But after becoming an overnight sensation back home, the Queenslander decided that she wanted to challenge herself further.

At the Olympic Trials in 2021, McKeown actually won a third individual title: the 200 individual medley. Her time of 2:08.19 was the eighth-fastest in history, and 0.3 faster than the time Yui Ohashi clocked to win Olympic gold.

There could be no ‘what ifs' for McKeown. That performance alone convinced her to add the medley to her already-gruelling repertoire in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“I know it‘s a rough double, but I’m looking forward to challenging myself, hopefully making that happen,” McKeown told the Geelong Advertiser.

Kaylee McKeown’s eyebrow-raising 400 medley times

McKeown’s decision was immediately vindicated at the 2022 Australian Championships in Adelaide.

The multi-Olympic champ took on the 100 and 200 back, followed by the 200 and 400 medley events, securing first place in each.

The most exciting result was her 400 medley time of 4:31.74 - a big personal best that ranked her second in the world. It was also over a second faster than Ohashi’s gold-medal-winning time from Tokyo.

Naturally, the swimming media started to speculate over the 20-year-old’s chances of being a quad-gold medallist at the 2022 FINA World Championships this June.

But her coach Michael Bohl warned about taking on too much too soon, and she is unlikely to swim the 400 medley in Budapest in order to focus on the 200 medley, backstroke sprints and relays.

A key part of some exciting swimming rivalries

With McKeown’s fast times in the medley events comes the mouth-watering prospect of new rivalries at major meets.

In the backstroke, she’s already part of the most exciting trio of women’s athletes ever.

The Australian, USA’s Regan Smith and Canada’s Kylie Masse are the only three women to ever break the 58-second barrier over 100m. With USA starlet Claire Curzan making huge strides in the event over the past two seasons, victory in women’s backstroke is anything but a given at Worlds.

Another potential new rivalry being hyped up ahead of Paris 2024 is with Canadian teenage prodigy Summer McIntosh, currently the World No. 1 in the 400 medley.

But while the duo may finally lock horns at the Commonwealth Games, the triple Olympic champion’s coach Bohl has only given his swimmer a 50-50 chance of competing in the 400 medley at the next Olympics.

“The 200m medley is definitely something that she wants to put on the radar for Paris and I‘d say that’s 100 percent locked and she’ll be looking at adding that to her repertoire,” he told the Geelong Advertiser.

“As for the 400m medley, I‘d say it's a 50-50 call. She can obviously do well in it but it sort of depends on what’s happening on the world scene. 

“If five girls go under 4:30, then you wouldn‘t waste your time doing it but if she’s very competitive in that in the next two years – and two years is a long time – so you never say never. You don’t want to get too greedy at the Olympics.”

If McKeown’s ascent in the medley events continues at its current level, the prodigy from Down Under may well be considered the world’s best swimmer by the end of the summer.