Kaylee Rochelle McKeownOAM (/məˈkjuːən/mə-KEW-ən; born 12 July 2001) is an Australianswimmer and quintuple Olympic gold medalist. She is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke. She is theworld record holder in thelong course50 metre backstroke, and the long course andshort course200 metre backstroke,[4][5][6] and is the former world record holder in both the long course and short course100 metre backstroke.[7][8] She won gold in both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke at both the2020 and2024 Olympics. In 2023, she was named as the "Best Female Swimmer of the Year" byWorld Aquatics, after sweeping gold in all three events of backstroke (50m, 100m, and 200m) at all three World Cup legs, held in Berlin, Athens and Budapest in October, 2023.[9]
Kaylee McKeown was 15 years old when she joined her older sisterTaylor on theAustralian Dolphins swim team. She was one of the youngest members.[10] She currently trains with theGriffith University swim group withMichael Bohl as her coach.[1][2]
When she was 15 years old, McKeown competed at the2016 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, held in August inMaui, Hawaii,United States, winning the gold medal in the 200 metre backstroke with a time of 2:10.01 and the bronze medal in the 100 metre backstroke with a time of 1:01.01.[11]
The following year, McKeown competed in thewomen's 200 metre backstroke event at the2017 World Aquatics Championships, placing fourth in a World Junior Record time of 2:06.76.[12][13] McKeown earned her first senior international medal for swimming the heats of the mixed medley relay, in which Australia placed second in the final.[14][better source needed]
As a 16-year-old the next year, she was the youngest woman on theSwimming Australia roster for the2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.[15] McKeown placed fifth in both the 100 metre and 200 metre backstroke events.[16][17]
McKeown earned her first senior individual medal at the2019 World Aquatics Championships with a silver medal in the 200 metre backstroke event.
In 2020, McKeown broke her firstWorld Record in the short course 200 metre backstroke event, swimming a time of 1:58.94 at the Australian Championships.[18]
Leading up to the2020 Summer Olympics, McKeown was the fastest swimmer in the 200 metre individual medley but withdrew from the event to concentrate on the backstroke.[19] McKeown broke the world record in the 100 metre backstroke event at the2021 Australian Swimming Trials swimming a time of 57.45.[20]
McKeown won the 100 metre backstroke at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics setting a newOlympic record of 57.47 seconds and becoming the first Australian woman to win a backstroke event at an Olympic Games.[21] She also won the 200 metre backstroke event in a time of 2:04.68, and swam the backstroke leg on the gold medal winning women's medley relay.[22]
Following her performances at the2022 Australian Short Course Swimming Championships, held inSydney in August, McKeown was named to the roster for the2022 World Short Course Championships.[1] On the first day of competition, she ranked twelfth in the preliminaries of the100 metre backstroke, qualifying for the semifinals with her time of 57.11 seconds.[23] Later in the morning, she qualified for the final of the200 metre individual medley with an overall rank of fourth in the preliminaries with a time of 2:06.07.[24] In the evening session, she started off with a bronze medal-win in the 200 metre individual medley in anOceanian,Commonwealth, andAustralian record time of 2:03.57 before qualifying for the final of the 100 metre backstroke approximately 20 minutes later with a time of 56.35 seconds that ranked her sixth across both semifinal heats.[25][26][27]
On day two, McKeown won the gold medal in the 100 metre backstroke with a personal best time of 55.49 seconds.[28][29] The morning of day three, she ranked tenth in the preliminaries of the50 metre backstroke with a time of 26.24 seconds and advanced to the semifinals.[30] In the evening semifinals, she placed ninth with a time of 26.09 seconds.[31] Two days later, she swam the backstroke portion of the4×50 metre medley relay in the preliminaries in a time of 26.42 seconds, helping qualify the relay to the final ranking first in an Oceanian and Australian record time of 1:44.78.[32] When the finals relay placed first in a time of 1:42.35, she won a gold medal for her efforts in the preliminaries.[33]
Day six of six, McKeown started in the morning in the preliminaries of the200 metre backstroke, where she ranked second in 2:02.32 and advanced to the final.[34] In the final, she was the only one to finish in a time faster than 2:00.00, winning the gold medal with a 1:59.26 that was 0.32 seconds slower than her world record mark from 2020.[35] She concluded the session with a silver medal in the4×100 metre medley relay, leading-off with a 55.74 for the backstroke portion to help finish in an Oceanian, Commonwealth, and Australian record time of 3:44.92.[36]
At the beginning of the 2023 season, McKeown broke the long course 200 metre backstroke world record at the 2023 NSW State Open Championships.[37] With this record, McKeown became the second swimmer to hold the Olympic title, Commonwealth title, Long Course World Championship title, Short Course World Championship title, Long Course world record and Short Course world record in the same event concurrently, following compatriotGrant Hackett in the 1500 metre freestyle.[38]
At the2023 World Aquatics Championships McKeown swept the 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke events, breaking the Oceanian record in the 50 metre backstroke and the championship record in the 100 metre backstroke.[39][40][41] McKeown became only the second swimmer to ever win the 50, 100 and 200 metre events of the same stroke during the same championships, after China'sQin Haiyang completed the breaststroke sweep the day prior.[42][43]
McKeown was the overall winner of the2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup after sweeping the backstroke events at all three stops.[44] At the final stop in Budapest, McKeown broke both the 50 metre and 100 metre backstroke world records (breaking her own world record in the latter) and became the first woman to break the long course 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke world records during their career, and the first woman to hold all three concurrently.[45]
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McKeown won gold in the 100m backstroke in a time of 57.33,[46] setting a new Olympic record, matching her Oceanian record and becoming the second woman to repeat gold in this event after AmericanNatalie Coughlin. Days later, Mckeown won gold in the 200m backstroke, charging home to out split her nearest rival, AmericanRegan Smith by over seven tenths of a second, setting a new Olympic record of 2.03.73, beating the previous record set by AmericanMissy Franklin at the2012 London Olympics. Mckeown won the 100m and 200m backstroke events at the Paris Olympics,[47] becoming the first woman in history to win both titles in two consecutive Olympic games and only the second person to ever achieve this, after East Germany'sRoland Matthes. McKeown also won silver in the4 × 100 metre medley relay and bronze in the200 metre individual medley andmixed 4 × 100 metre medley relay.
McKeown qualified for the2025 World Aquatics Championships in the 50, 100 and 200 metre backstroke events, but subsequently withdrew from the 50 metre backstroke. She won both the 100 and 200 metre backstroke events in Championship Record times. In doing so, McKeown became the first woman to win 6 individual world titles in backstroke events, and the first woman to win the 200 metre backstroke 3 times.
| Meet | 50 back | 100 back | 200 back | 200 medley | 400 medley | 4×50 medley | 4×100 medley | 4×100 mixed medley |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PACJ 2016 | N/a | 17th | N/a | N/a | ||||
| WC 2017 | 4th | 16th | N/a | |||||
| CG 2018 | 4th | 4th | 9th | N/a | N/a | |||
| PAC 2018 | N/a | 5th | 5th | N/a | ||||
| YOG 2018 | 7th | N/a | 9th | |||||
| WC 2019 | 4th | 5th | N/a | |||||
| OG 2020 | N/a | N/a | ||||||
| WC 2022 | 5th | DNS | N/a | |||||
| CG 2022 | N/a | |||||||
| SCW 2022 | 9th | N/a | ||||||
| WC 2023 | DQ | N/a | ||||||
| OG 2024 | N/a | N/a | ||||||
| WC 2025 | DNS | N/a | 5th |
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 m freestyle | 26.59 | Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 14 December 2020 | |
| NSW Open Championships | Sydney | 18 March 2021 | |||
| 100 m freestyle | 54.29 | NSW Open Championships | Sydney | 18 March 2021 | |
| 200 m freestyle | 1:56.14 | Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 10 December 2023 | |
| 400 m freestyle | 4:06.85 | Victorian Open Championships | Melbourne | 24 February 2024 | |
| 50 m backstroke | 26.86 | World Cup | Budapest | 20 October 2023 | WR |
| 100 m backstroke | 57.16 | World Championships | Singapore | 29 July 2025 | CR,OC |
| 200 m backstroke | 2:03.14 | NSW Open Championships | Sydney | 10 March 2023 | WR,ACR |
| 50 m breaststroke | 32.18 | Queensland Championships | Brisbane | 14 December 2020 | |
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:06.86 | Victorian Open Championships | Melbourne | 17 February 2023 | |
| 200 m breaststroke | 2:24.18 | Australian Championships | Gold Coast | 19 April 2023 | |
| 50 m butterfly | 27.28 | Medal Shots Preparation Meet | Brisbane | 15 November 2020 | |
| 100 m butterfly | 59.45 | Southport Prep Meet | Gold Coast | 18 November 2023 | |
| 200 m individual medley | 2:06.63 | Australian Trials | Brisbane | 10 June 2024 | OC,ACR |
| 400 m individual medley | 4:28.22 | Australian Championships | Gold Coast | 18 April 2024 | OC,ACR |
| Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 m freestyle | 1:55.84 | Australian Championships | Melbourne | 27 October 2018 | |
| 50 m backstroke | 25.35 | World Cup | Toronto | 23 October 2025 | OC |
| 100 m backstroke | 54.49 | World Cup | Toronto | 24 October 2025 | CR,OC |
| 200 m backstroke | 1:57.33 | World Cup | Toronto | 25 October 2025 | WR |
| 100 m breaststroke | 1:08.06 | Australian Championships | Melbourne | 25 October 2018 | |
| 50 m butterfly | 27.46 | Australian Championships | Brisbane | 27 November 2020 | |
| 100 m individual medley | 57.76 | World Cup | Shanghai | 18 October 2024 | |
| 200 m individual medley | 2:03.57 | World Championships | Melbourne | 13 December 2022 | OC |
| No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 m backstroke | 57.45 | 2021 Australian Swimming Trials | Adelaide, Australia | 13 June 2021 | Former | [48] |
| 2 | 200 m backstroke | 2:03.14 | 2023 NSW State Open Championships | Sydney, Australia | 10 March 2023 | Current | [5] |
| 3 | 50 m backstroke | 26.86 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest, Hungary | 20 October 2023 | Current | [4] |
| 4 | 100 m backstroke (2) | 57.33 | 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Budapest, Hungary | 21 October 2023 | Former | [7] |
| No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 200 m backstroke | 1:58.94 | Australian Swimming Championships (25m) | Brisbane, Australia | 28 November 2020 | Former | [49] |
| 2 | 100 m backstroke | 54.46 | Australian Swimming Championships (25m) | Adelaide, Australia | 26 September 2024 | Former | [8] |
| 3 | 200 m backstroke | 1:57.87 | 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Westmont,United States | 19 October 2025 | Former | [6] |
| 4 | 200 m backstroke | 1:57.33 | 2025 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup | Toronto, Canada | 25 October 2025 | Current | [50] |
| No. | Event | Time | Meet | Location | Date | Status | Notes | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 m backstroke | 57.88 | h | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 25 July 2021 | Former | [51] | |
| 2 | 100 m backstroke (2) | 57.47 | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 27 July 2021 | Former | [51] | ||
| 3 | 4x100 m medley relay[a] | 3:51.60 | 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo, Japan | 1 August 2021 | Former | CR | [51] | |
| 4 | 100 m backstroke (3) | 57.33 | 2024 Summer Olympics | Paris,France | 30 July 2024 | Former | |||
| 5 | 200 m backstroke | 2:03.73 | 2024 Summer Olympics | Paris,France | 2 August 2024 | Current |
a split 58.01 for backstroke leg; withChelsea Hodges (breaststroke),Emma McKeon (butterfly),Cate Campbell (freestyle)
In August 2020, McKeown's father, Sholto, died after a two-year battle with brain cancer.[60] She has a tattoo on her foot in his memory that says, "I'll always be with you".[61]
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | FINA Swimming World Cup Overall female winner 2023 | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by | Women's 50-metre backstroke world record-holder (long course) 20 October 2023 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Women's 100-metre backstroke world record-holder (long course) 13 June 2021 – 18 June 2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Women's 200-metre backstroke world record-holder (long course) 10 March 2023 – present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Women's 100-metre backstroke world record-holder (short course) 26 September 2024 – 25 October 2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Women's 200-metre backstroke world record-holder (short course) 28 November 2020 – 2 November 2024 19 October 2025 – | Succeeded by |