GOLD COAST: Kaylee McKeown is synonymous with winning gold medals and breaking records. She’s also known by many to be ruthlessly hard on herself.
After hauling in yet another national title on Tuesday night, the swimming queen admitted she’d been “way too harsh” on herself at times throughout her career and took a moment to be proud of her latest win, notched up at the Australian Open.
“I think to be one of the best athletes in the world you’ve always got to have that, not negative thoughts in the back of your head, but you’ve always got to be harsh, and that kind of just leads a way for there to always be improvement,” McKeown said after pipping Mollie O’Callaghan to win the women’s 100-metre backstroke final.
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“I think I’ve gone too far over the edge on that. I’ve been way too harsh on myself and not necessarily seen the good that I am doing.
“Sometimes you can put in all the hard work and sometimes it just doesn’t come out in the racing and it’s really frustrating, but swimmers all the time plateau for a little bit and sometimes it takes them months to get out of it, [or] weeks. Hopefully that’s not the case for me.
“But like I said, [I’ve] just got to be happy with the small things and remind myself that the end goal is LA [the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics].”
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McKeown clocked 58.06 seconds in her winning 100m backstroke swim, leading home O’Callaghan (58.98) and Hannah Fredericks (1:00.19).
She won the 200m backstroke on Easter Monday — barring a disaster, that was a foregone conclusion — but she was discouraged about her time, 2:05.66.
The slump she was in, and the fact she’s achieved everything there is to achieve in the sport, beg the question: what is driving her?
She won gold in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and again nailed the double in Paris. Since then, she’s stood alone as the only Australian who has won four individual Olympic gold medals.
She’s also held all three of the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke world records at some point, and currently holds the 50m and 200m world records.
And she’s won world championship gold medals in the three backstroke events.
“In Tokyo I was really young. I kind of just got out there and I won the two golds individually,” McKeown said, explaining what was spurring her on now.
“In Paris, I wanted to prove that I wasn’t just a one-hit wonder, and I did that.
“And I think in LA I really just want to enjoy the experience. I don’t think we’re ever going to have an Olympics like that in my generation where there’s going to be that many people in the atmosphere.”
She’ll be taking on American rivals Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff at the LA Olympics.
Beating them in cities like Paris and Singapore, the location of last year’s world championships, is one thing; beating them on American soil, and inside a heaving SoFi Stadium, would be quite another.
“I’ve got two of my main competitors that are from the US and I think it’s gonna be really hard for us as an Australian collective to get up and win gold medals in their home town,” McKeown said.
“But if we can do that and we can do it well, I think it just goes to show that us Aussies are undefeatable and ready to go.”
This Olympic cycle won’t necessarily be her last, the 24-year-old said.
“I think leading into LA I just want to enjoy it, and if I can enjoy it past that I will keep going,” she said.
“I’m also very conscious of not trying to push the envelope … I think so many people can get caught up in just being in love with the sport and keep going and going, and I don’t necessarily want to do that.
“I just want to end on a high note and do everything for me. That’s the best thing that I can do for myself, and one thing that I really want to put out there is don’t do it for anyone else but yourself.”
Shayna sizzles
Shayna Jack effectively had a year off last year. She took a break after the Paris 2024 Olympics and headed to the South African jungle as a star of Network 10’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! She showed up at the trials for the Singapore world championships but was underdone and didn’t make the cut.
She banked an impressive comeback win at the Australian Open on Tuesday night, winning the women’s 50m freestyle final in 24.60 seconds.
Meg Harris, the gold medallist in the event at last year’s world titles, didn’t swim on Tuesday because of illness, but Jack still had to beat young gun Olivia Wunsch and O’Callaghan.
The 50m freestyle is not a pet event of O’Callaghan’s but the Olympic champion is no slouch in the one-lap dash.
Chalmers rips a career-best butterfly swim
He’s known for his phenomenal achievements as a freestyler, but Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers won the men’s 50m butterfly title on Tuesday night and set a personal best in the process.
The three-time Olympic medallist clocked 22.77 seconds in a thumping win over Ben Armbruster (23.46) and Isaac Cooper (23.57).
Chalmers’ win in the 50m butterfly followed a victory in the 100m freestyle, his pet event, on Easter Monday.
Crothers crowned champion
Paralympic gold medallist Rowan Crothers claimed victory in the multi-class men’s 100m freestyle in 51.18 seconds, leading home Alex Tuckfield and Callum Simpson.
Crothers is in tip-top shape on the back of a high-altitude camp in Flagstaff, Arizona with distance weapon Sam Short and the Rackley squad.
Pallister continues winning ways
Lani Pallister won the women’s 800m freestyle in commanding style on Easter Monday and backed it up with a comfortable win in the 400m freestyle on Tuesday night.
The distance phenom clocked 3:59.46 to topple Kiwi Erika Fairweather (4:02.09) and Brazilian Maria Costa (4:03.41).
Despite being in the thick of a heavy training block, Pallister went within a second of knocking off her personal best, the 3:58.87 she recorded at last year’s world titles.
The daughter of 1988 Olympic swimmer Janelle Pallister (née Elford) is one of the great comeback stories in Australian sport.
A star is born
Gideon Burnes — remember the name.
The 20-year-old produced a mega boilover to win the men’s 100m breaststroke title, taking down Olympic gold medallist Zac Stubblety-Cook and former world champion Sam Williamson.
Burnes, who swims for Bond University, hurtled home to win in 1:00.66, a personal best.
He beat Bailey Lello by .01 of a second, with Stubblety-Cook taking third and Williamson finishing fourth.
