Kaylee McKeown breaks short course world record in return from Olympics

Kaylee McKeown lost her long-course 100m backstroke world record back in June, but she gained the short-course 100m back world record on Thursday.

McKeown, who swept the backstrokes at the last two Olympics, swam the fastest 100m back in history in a 25-meter pool — 54.56 seconds — at the Australian Short Course Championships outside Adelaide.

McKeown, 23, shattered the previous record of 54.89 set by fellow Aussie Minna Atherton in 2019.

McKeown now owns the long-course world records in the 50m and 200m backstrokes and the short-course world records in the 100m and 200m backstrokes.

She held all three long-course records together (50m, 100, 200m) for eight months until Regan Smith broke the 100m back record at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.

Last October, McKeown became the second swimmer to hold all three long-course backstroke world records simultaneously after American Lenny Krayzelburg in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

McKeown is entered in the 50m back on Saturday, where she could target Canadian Maggie Mac Neil’s world record of 25.25.

The Olympics are held in long-course, 50-meter pools.

A short-course world championships in 25-meter pools is held in even years in December, including in Budapest this year.