Commonwealth Games 2022: Kaylee McKeown makes shock call to bypass 400m individual medley
Backstroke star Kaylee McKeown has made a shock withdrawal from a key event, ending any chance of a shootout with a rising Canadian star. Plus, exclusive first pics of our Dolphins.
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Australian swimming star Kaylee McKeown has pulled out of her first event at the Commonwealth Games and a blockbuster showdown with Canadian teenage sensation Summer McIntosh.
Still in the process of figuring out her likely schedule for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the champion Australian backstroker had also entered both the 200m and 400m individual medleys in Birmingham.
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But in a move which could spell the end of her chances of her attempting the gruelling “Iron Cross”, McKeown has withdrawn from the 400m race, due to take place on Friday.
She will still compete in the 200m medley — which she won a silver medal in at last month’s world championships in Budapest — as well as the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke and two relays.
Although she is ranked No. 1 in the world this year after posting a time of 4:31.74 at the Australian trials in May, McKeown’s chances of adding the 400m medley to her program are fading, along with a shot at the hardest combination in swimming, known as the Iron Cross: the 100m backstroke-200m backstroke-200m medley-400m medley.
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McKeown’s time from the trials was a fraction quicker than what McIntosh swam (4:32.04) to win the gold medal in Budapest.
Just 15, McIntosh’s time has been recognised as the official junior world record although she went more than two seconds quicker at a lower-tier meet in Canada which didn’t count.
TEENAGE GUN NAMED TO REPLACE COOPER
Australia’s teenage sensation Flynn Southam will get to swim his first individual race on the senior international stage after replacing Isaac Cooper in 50m freestyle.
Cooper was sent home from the Dolphins’ training camp in Europe for disciplinary reasons “including the use of medication” which he says were not related to banned substances.
Cooper was due to race in the 50m freestyle, 50 backstroke and 100m backstroke plus medley relay.
Brad Woodward will take his place in the backstroke events while 17-year-old Southam will line up on the blocks for the freestyle sprint.
The boom youngster had already been picked for the men’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays and could also feature in the heats of the two mixed relays — adding to his possible medal count as heat swimmers also get medals if the final team makes the podium.
CRUEL TWIST FOR WOMEN’S RELAY TEAMS
But there’s bad news for Australia’s mighty women’s team with confirmation that there are no heats in the women’s 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley races.
While the absence of any heats won’t impact the team’s medal count because a top three finish in the relays counts as one medal on the official table, it has a massive bearing on individual Aussie swimmers.
With so much depth in the Australian team, the Dolphins usually save their fastest swimmers for the final while heat swimmers still get the same rewards and experience.
Boom teenager Mollie O‘Callaghan, for example, won two gold medals at last year’s Tokyo Olympics from swimming the heats and has gone on to be crowned world champion this year.
She’s a shoo-in to be selected this time but other swimmers on the fringe will miss out because there’s not enough entrants in the women’s events for heats.
All three men’s relays and the two mixed relays will all still have heats.
Next gen stars: The 16 teenagers on our Comm Games swim team
Teenage sensations Mollie O’Callaghan and Flynn Southam are getting ready to lead the next wave of Aussie swim stars hoping to make a huge splash at the Commonwealth Games.
One of the traditional launching pads to international stardom for Australia’s best young swimmers, the ‘friendly games’ are where many of Australia’s most prolific Olympic medallists have cut their teeth – including record holders Emma McKeon, Ian Thorpe and Susie O’Neill.
This year’s edition in Birmingham is set to continue that tradition with some of the brightest prospects in years wearing the green and gold cossies at the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
The Dolphins’ team for Birmingham includes 16 teenagers who are just starting out on their international careers led by O’Callaghan and Southam, the young gun freestyle sprinters that everyone is raving about.
O’Callaghan just won three gold and three silver medals at last month’s world championships in Budapest but is chasing an even bigger haul in England’s West Midlands.
Just 18, O’Callaghan is targeting eight medals – in 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke plus four relays.
Supremely talented and fiercely determined, don’t bet against her picking up a swag of medals because she’s a pocket rocket.
O’Callaghan looks like a model of calmness when she’s standing on the blocks but is secretly a nervous wreck who has mastered the trick of turning her anxiety into swimming fast.
“When she gets nervous, she performs,” O’Callaghan’s coach Dean Boxall told News Corp.
“She uses it. Some people have a fight or flight response, she’s a fighter.”
Southam, 17, skipped the world titles because he’s still in high school and had to focus on his mid-year exams so is making his senior international debut in Birmingham.
He’s been tipped as Australia’s next great freestyle sprinter after breaking Kyle Chalmers’ 100m national age group records and coming close to Ian Thorpe’s 200m marks.
“That’s always a part of the sport, there’s always someone who comes along who’s faster,” Flynn said.
“There’s definitely going to be people faster than me in 10 or 15 years’ time. You have to take it in your stride and help the next generation come through, it keeps the cycle going.
“I respect Kyle, I respect Thorpey, those guys are legends of the sport, they are among the best ever.
“Ian was individual world champ at 15, that’s ridiculous. I’m a big fan of his.
“We’ve all got different trajectories. You’ve got to respect and acknowledge those guys as greats of the sport but I’m on my own path as well.”
Southam will swim two, possibly three, relays in Birmingham plus the 50m freestyle, but is treating the Games as a stepping stone to the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he has bigger fish to fry.
In a sign of how the next generation are taking over, his main rival in the French capital is likely to be another emerging teenage superstar, David Popovici.
The Romanian whiz-kid smashed the junior world records once held by Chalmers and Thorpe on his way to winning the senior 100m-200m freestyle double in Budapest.
Also just 17, he keeps in regular contact with Southam and sees the Australian as one of his biggest rivals going forward.
“It’s a new age of newcomers.” Popovici said.
“I feel like we young ones have got to represent and try to change the sport as much as we can because 10, 15 years ago the battle was between those considered to be in prime age, 20-24 years.
“It’s proof that age doesn’t really matter. It matters how much you work. It’s a matter of how much you work and how hungry you are for a medal, how hungry you are for success, how passionate you are and how much sacrifices you’re willing to make.”
AUSSIE COMM GAMES STARS DESCEND ON BIRMINGHAM
Joe Barton
Led by power couple Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson, and Tokyo stars Ariane Titmus and Kaylee McKeown, Australia’s swim team touched down in Birmingham on Saturday ready for an all-out assault on the Commonwealth Games.
Now all they need is a repeat of the Tokyo gold deluge to kickstart Australia’s medal charge.
The first group, including superstars McKeon, Simpson, Titmus and Mack Horton, arrived on Saturday morning, with the remainder arriving on a separate flight in the afternoon.
Arrival in Birmingham was sweet for the Dolphins, and coach Rohan Taylor, after an at-times bumpy preparation – which were rocked last by the expulsion of Isaac Cooper, the gold medal fancy who was sent home from the training camp over “wellbeing challenges, including the use of medication”.
And while the 18-year-old backstroke star, who was also set to compete in the 50m freestyle event, was a notable absentee as the star-studded group arrived on a chilly Birmingham morning, Taylor said his dismissal was a timely reminder to the squad.
“It’s also a very clear reminder for our team that we have high standards, high expectations, and going forward if something is brought to our attention we’ll act on it,” Taylor said.
“I’ve been in touch (with him). We’ve all been in touch, we have a group working with him, an ongoing group to support him.
“We’re there for him. Our number one priority is his wellbeing. Isaac Cooper is going to have a long career and he’s a great athlete. We know that. And we want to support him and help him develop as a person.
“He’s 18 years old, but we want to make the standards of our team and really be clear about that – if things are brought to our attention, we’ll act on those. And we did.”
And with new young guns Mollie O’Callaghan and Flynn Southam in tow, as well as newly minted world champions Elijah Winnington and Zac Stubblety-Cook, the expectation of a medal rush is high.
“There is a high expectation on this team in particular, at the Commonwealth Games, and we look forward to that,” Taylor added. “Outcomes like medals, we want to get as many as we can. We’re not going to have a quota, but we definitely want to get as many as we can.
“We do all this to compete. Everything we do is about competition. So the closer we get to competition the more excited I get. To be in Birmingham and be ready to spend the next six days sharpening the skills and getting to race is important for us.”
WHY OUR SWIMMERS ALREADY HAVE AN EYE ON PARIS
Julian Linden
In swimming, where the difference between winning and losing is often decided by tiny fractions of seconds, the clock never really stops ticking.
Although there are still two years to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, Australia’s best competitors are already racing against time.
For anyone in the Dolphins squad serious about wanting to win gold in the French capital, that means the starter’s gun has already been fired and there’s not another moment left to waste.
And that’s why the Aussie team is unashamedly using the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham as its springboard for Paris.
“We started our preparations for Paris the moment the Tokyo Olympics finished,” head coach Rohan Taylor said.
“Because the gap between the Olympics has been shortened to three years, everything has been accelerated, so the Commonwealth Games have become even more important than usual.”
In a sign of how serious the Australian team is treating the Games in the build-up to the next Olympics, Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus both skipped last month’s world titles in Budapest, even though there was record prizemoney on offer and both would have likely banked over $100,000.
“The standard of Comm Games is not going to be the same as the world championships because you’re missing half the world,” Taylor said.
“But the environment and the excitement in that building is going to be electric, so it gives them that exposure.”
Australia’s swimmers have long ruled the waves in the Commonwealth pool and are expected to do so again in Birmingham.
At the last Commonwealth Games, Australia won 73 medals in the pool and the current team – which finished second only to the US at the most recent Olympics and world championships – is rated as the best ever.
With multiple champions and world record-holders in the squad, it’s a foregone conclusion that the Dolphins will win a truckload of medals, after bagging a record nine golds in Tokyo last year.
“It’s nice to reflect on the fact that we did perform so well, but I want us to get better and keep repeating it,” Taylor said.
“We are absolutely firmly focused on Paris now.
“The Comm Games is a chance to represent your country in an international meet, in a village environment, and an opportunity because there is interest in it.”
More than the number of medals won, what Taylor is really looking for is how the next wave of talent performs.
The Commonwealth Games have always been regarded as a vital stepping stone for many of Australia’s greatest Olympic champions.
Titmus won gold at Gold Coast 2018, before winning a world title, then the Olympic title, and she said it’s the perfect launching pad for Paris.
“I’ve done the whole circuit now, but the Commonwealth Games, more so than the world championships, to me felt like it was such a great meet to learn from, because it’s like the Olympics on a smaller scale,” she said.
“You get to experience village life, you really have to manage yourself around the other athletes who are there from other sports, so it really gives you a good eye-opener to what the Olympic Games are like.
“I really wanted to prioritise the Comm Games this year, because I’ve always thought of it as my breakout meet on the international stage.”
Taylor says Birmingham will help the next wave of Australian talents – like teenager Flynn Southam or distance freestyler Lani Pallister – to get crucial experience before Paris.
“We’ve got really good opportunities to improve over the next two years,” he said.
WHO TO WATCH IN THE POOL
ARIARNE TITMUS
The double Olympic champion in 200m and 400m freestyle, ‘Arnie’ is chasing her first big international treble, which includes the 800m. She broke Katie Ledecky’s 400m world record at the Aussie trials. Look out for her to add the 200m record in Birmingham and don’t miss her clash with Canada’s Summer McIntosh.
KYLE CHALMERS
Hasn’t won an Olympic, world or Commonwealth 100m freestyle title since Rio in 2016 but this is his big chance. Flopped in the butterfly at the worlds but was breathtakingly quick in his relay freestyle swims and wants to prove a point.
EMMA MCKEON
The queen of Australian swimming who will surely win another stack of medals because she’s always so prepared and just so damn fast. The only question is how many. Her record is seven – from the Tokyo Olympics – but she could well eclipse that this time after skipping the worlds.
ELIJAH WINNINGTON
Australia’s newly crowned 400m world champion after a sensational win in Budapest that suggests he’s a superstar in the making. He’s also one of the most down to earth members of the squad and should come away with at least two golds.
KAYLEE MCKEOWN
Triple gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics. Should win one, maybe two golds in backstroke and more in the relays. Is also trying her hand at medley, as she tries to figure out her program for the Paris 2024 Olympics so anything she does this time she will only improve on.
ZAC STUBBLETY-COOK
The new leader of the men’s team after he was the only Aussie male swimmer to win Olympic gold in Tokyo. The Queenslander also just won his first world title in 200m breaststroke in Budapest and also holds the world record. A Commonwealth title will give the complete set.
MOLLIE O’CALLAGHAN
The rising star of Australian female sprinting. Still just a teenager, she won six medals at the world championships – three gold and three silver – including the 100m freestyle. Will be harder for her to win individual golds in Birmingham because Emma McKeon is back but what a talent ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
FLYNN SOUTHAM
The most exciting male freestyle sprinter in the country. Has been breaking Kyle Chalmers’ age group records which shows just how quick he is and although he’s only qualified for the relays, this is his first time on the senior international stage but won’t be the last.
SHAYNA JACK
Back in the Aussie cossies after serving a two-year ban for a positive doping test. Won a gold and three silver medals in relays at the world titles before breaking her hand in a freak accident while warming up. Should win a stack of medals in Birmingham.
MATT TEMPLE
One of the most underrated members of the Australian team but a lion-hearted performer who just goes about his work quietly. Has a great shot at picking up medals in both his butterfly races as well as the relays.
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Originally published as Commonwealth Games 2022: Kaylee McKeown makes shock call to bypass 400m individual medley
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