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.