US Swim Trials: Kaylee McKeown loses world record to Regan Smith six weeks before Paris

Australia’s hopes of beating the Americans for the most gold medals at the Paris Olympics have taken a massive hit, with a US star blowing one of Kaylee McKeown’s prized world records out of the water.

After correctly forecasting the loss of her world record four days before it happened, Australian swimming sensation Kaylee McKeown has a pre-recorded message for her great American rival Regan Smith before they meet at the Paris Olympics next month.

Rather than be deflated at the thought of losing one of her prized achievements, McKeown said she was actually hoping Smith would break her 100m backstroke world record to give her something extra to chase in the French capital.

The Aussie just got her wish.

On Wednesday, at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis, Smith shattered McKeown’s world record of 57.33 seconds when she reached the wall in 57.13, wiping a fifth of a second off the Aussie’s old mark, which McKeown set in Budapest last year.

“I don’t want to go to the Olympics and not be challenged,” McKeown said at the Australian trials last weekend.

“That’s what I’m going in for and that’s why everyone’s going.”

Regan Smith has claimed the world record for the 100m backstroke. Picture: Sarah Stier/Getty Images

The challenge has now been set because a fifth of a second is a big chunk by elite swimming standards, but for Smith, it was also a case of sweet revenge.

The American had previously held the world record for two years before McKeown took it off her at the Australian trials for the 2021 Olympics then went on to win three gold medals in Tokyo.

McKeown was a heartbeat away from breaking her own world record again at last week’s Australian trials in Brisbane and said after the race that she hoped Smith could go faster.

“I’m not watching nervously at all. I think the better the sport is, the more it brings out in individuals,” McKeown said.

“I’m expecting world records to be broken, I’m expecting this, I’m expecting that.

“If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. It makes me better as an athlete.”

Named world swimmer of the year in 2019, Smith hasn’t been able to beat McKeown in a race since, so in 2022, she switched coaches and began training under Bob Bowman, the mastermind behind Michael Phelps’ success.

Still only 22, and five months younger than McKeown, Smith is now starting to reap the rewards and will now head to Paris as the favourite for the 100m gold and the Aussie’s biggest danger in the 200m.

“It was part of the plan,” Smith said. “I am so proud of myself.

“We’re gonna take a couple of minutes here to be really proud of what I accomplished and then it’s back to work.

“I’ve got more things that I want to accomplish this week.”