Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown smashes 200m backstroke shortcourse world record

During a virtual race, teenage swimming prodigy Kaylee McKeown smashed a world record which has stood for over six years.

Kaylee McKeown competes in the Australian Short Course Swimming Championships at Brisbane Aquatic Centre.

Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown has set a new world record for the 200m backstroke at the Australian national shortcourse championships in Brisbane.

The 19-year-old Olympic hopeful clocked 1:58.94, trumping the previous record of 1:59.23 set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu in 2014.

Minna Atherton recorded the second-fastest time in Friday’s event with 2:03.64.

“Short course is something we don’t get to do very often so I was excited to see what I could put up after some solid training this year,” McKeown said.

“I headed over to my teammates and my coach and they said ‘you just got a world record!’ and I was like, ‘What?’.

“I didn’t actually know till a few minutes later.

“It feels good and definitely different in a year where I have had my ups and downs. It’s the hardest year that I’ve gone through with my father passing away in August.

“He has been a motivation behind me so I just want to give it my best while I can.”

🌏 SC WORLD RECORD 🌏

Kaylee McKeown clocked a blistering time of 1:58.94 to knock off Hungarian Katinka Hosszu’s 2014 world record (1:59.23) in the Women’s 200m backstroke 🔥 #VirtualShortCourse pic.twitter.com/Xyj2Df13u4

— Swimming Australia (@SwimmingAUS) November 28, 2020

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McKeown won silver in the 200m backstroke at last year’s long-course world championships in South Korea, while also winning gold for the 50m backstroke at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.

The teenager will be targeting a maiden Olympic Games in Tokyo next year.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia’s national shortcourse swimming championships were conducted virtually, with swimmers competing simultaneously across the country.

Originally published as Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown smashes 200m backstroke shortcourse world record