Kaylee McKeown rips 50m backstroke World Record apart in Budapest

It was highly likely that a world record would fall this weekend on the final stop of the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Budapest, and it happened on Friday evening in the Hungarian capital as Australia’s Kaylee McKeown broke the 15th long course world record of 2023.

After missing the 50m backstroke World Record by 0.04 last week in Athens, McKeown raced to a 26.86 on Friday in the Duna Arena, the site of her first Worlds final in 2017, her first World title in 2022, and her third world record in 2023.

“I was also wondering if I could swim a World Record,” McKeown said. “I just wanted to get out fast tonight and see what I can do. The only thing I can keep dong is training hard and keep believing in myself and believing in my coach.”

McKeown is now the first person to hold the 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke world records simultaneously since World Aquatics first started keeping track of 50m world records in 1997.

McKeown is the first Australian to hold the World Record in the 50m backstroke since Sophie Edington set the mark in 2008.

“I am obviously very very happy,” McKeown said. “I never saw myself as a sprinter so it's really nice to have that under my belt. Next year is going to be a really tough year so the more confidence I can build, the better.”

McKeown lowered Liu Xiang’s 26.98 from 2018 as the Australian is officially the second swimmer under 27 and the triple crown winner on this World Cup circuit, giving her more credibility as one of the best backstrokers of all-time.

McKeown currently looks unstoppable for the 100m and 200m this weekend, as well as for 2024 if she can keep this up.

“I have been surprising myself since Berlin,” McKeown said. “I have been trying to do a couple of things differently and I am pleased that they are working.”

China’s Qin Haiyang was another swimmer who rocked the top ten performance list for 2023, swimming his fourth fastest time of 2023 in the 100m breaststroke at 57.82, tying his semi-final swim from the World Championships.

Like McKeown, this is Qin’s third straight 100m breaststroke win of this World Cup, setting himself up for a potential nine wins across the three weekends in the breaststroke events.

“It was a good feeling to win this event,” Qin said. “This win makes me feel more confident in the next two races.”

Qin took down a stacked field with Olympic silver medallist Arno Kamminga (58.68) swimming faster than his time from the World Championships in second, and Worlds silver medallist Nic Fink (59.21) in third ahead of Olympic champion Adam Peaty (59.25). Peaty’s performance is promising, as he moved up to 15th in the world for 2023 to gain some momentum before he tries to earn his third straight Olympic gold in the 100m breast next summer.

However, Qin looks unstoppable right now like his backstroke counterpart McKeown, as this was his sixth swim under 58 seconds this year alone, while Fink is the second-ranked swimmer in the world at 58.36 from June.

We keep mentioning how stacked the men’s breaststroke races have been, but Qin has been head and shoulders above them all for three weeks and looks tough to beat right now.

Qin’s compatriot Zhang Yufei also captured her third straight 200m butterfly win with a 2:05.65 to set the World Cup record set in 2015 by Cammile Adams (2:06.33) as Zhang is now fourth in the world in that event.

This bodes well for Zhang’s 100m butterfly on Sunday where she will tackle the world record, and her swim here in the 200m will put her back in the conversation for next summer’s Olympics.

“Yes, I got the World Cup Record and it’s amazing!” Zhang said. “There are no more 200 fly races for me in this World Cup. I am so happy with the race and the result.

“Yes, I won! Before the race I, was very nervous because I had won the two previous races and there was pressure. I had to prepare myself for tonight’s race while being nervous. Of course, I will continue to swim the 200 fly but I still think it’s a hard race.”

Zhang is the defending champion from Tokyo in the 200m butterfly and is the third-fastest swimmer of all time. However, Zhang scratched the 200m from her program in the World Championships this year to rest herself for the mixed medley relay, which China took home gold.

Now she has three straight weekends of winning under her belt, going faster each week as she also turns her attention to a potential triple crown in the 100m butterfly and another potential showdown with Sarah Sjostrom in the 50m butterfly tomorrow.

“Tomorrow I will race in the 50 fly,” Zhang said. “Sarah is my idol in the 50m free and also the 50 fly and I like to go to congratulate her after her races.”

Sjostrom showed off her sprint prowess for the Budapest crowd by winning the 50m freestyle at 23.97, her ninth swim under 24 this year alone, as no one else has gotten under.

Sjostrom finished off her triple crown with an additional $10,000 USD given to all the triple crown winners as she will go for the 50m butterfly triple crown tomorrow with Zhang as her biggest challenger.

“I am super happy with that race,” Sjostrom said. “I am really happy to swim with these girls. It was a great swim at this time of the year.  I am happy to continue to swim at a high level. My lowest level is at a very high level at the moment.

"I feel very fast, I didn't feel that I did everything correctly but I could still swim a very good time even though I didn't swim everything perfectly, I am going to remember this race and make a few corrections. Of course there are always details that can be improved on, whether it's a breakout, or how you swim your race, there are lots of details. Swimming is a bit of a puzzle, you need a little bit more time to put all those pieces together but I still swam very well."

Added Sjostrom: “Tomorrow will be very tough, Zhang Yufei put up a very good 200 fly tonight. and I hope that I can put up a good swim tomorrow and see what happens.

McKeown, Zhang, and Sjostrom are currently in a battle for the Women's Swimming World Cup Overall Title as well, with McKeown leading the standings with 137.8 points ahead of Zhang’s 129.6 and Sjostrom’s 129.3. Points are scored based on an athlete’s place in a final as well as their proximity to the existing world record, with each athlete scoring its three highest placing events.

Qin Haiyang is currently leading the men’s standings with 136.2 points over Italy’s Thomas Ceccon (129.5) and South Africa’s Matthew Sates (127.2). However, neither Ceccon or Sates won their respective finals on Friday.

Ceccon finished second in the 200m backstroke by 0.01 to Worlds bronze medallist Roman Mityukov of Switzerland at 1:56.96 to 1:56.97. Ceccon was leading for the first 150 meters before Mityukov turned on a 29.10 on the final 50 to Ceccon’s 29.73 to snag his first win of the series.

Mityukov is coming off a historic summer where he won bronze in this event at the World Aquatics Championships.

“Of course it hurts, it's a 200 back, and especially harder at the beginning of the season and when you are not tapered, it's really really hard,” Mityukov said. “A 1:56 in October, it's my first World Cup victory after a bronze in Athens, and it's an experience that will help me. It's good for the future.

"I swam these events because long-course racing in the Olympic year is very important. It’s better for me. I don't know the splits but I felt it was a pretty good race. I still had energy to come back in the last 50. So I think I managed well for today.”

Sates finished second in the 100m butterfly to another Swiss swimmer in Olympic bronze medallist Noe Ponti, who touched at 51.38 to Sates’s 51.66. It was a best time for Sates, who moved up to 36th in the world as he will look to score more points throughout the weekend. Ponti was able to get his first win in his first appearance at the World Cup in 2023.

“I think I made a mistake on my breakout,” Ponti said. “I broke out a bit too early and I was still underwater and it broke me. Of course, it didn't affect the race, it was a little mistake but I did a lot of good things. But I will have some time to fix mistakes before next summer in Paris.

“I joined the first World Cup of the season in Budapest because I took a four-week break after Fukuoka and I will not take any breaks over the winter. It would have been too much racing and not enough training so I thought I needed to skip Berlin and Athens in order to train.

“I wanted to start off the season with a win. This year we are going to stop losing and winning a lot more.”

Tes Schouten of the Netherlands was another triple crown winner on Friday with a very impressive swim in the 200m breaststroke, breaking the World Cup record at 2:21.52 to lower her own mark from two weeks ago of 2:22.13.

It’s a new best time and Dutch record for Schouten as well, lowering her 2:21.63 from her bronze medal swim at the World Championships as she remains fifth in the world for 2023. Schouten, age 22, has quietly improved this year to be one of the best breaststrokers in the world and has certainly been a big boost for Dutch swimming.

“It was a PB and I didn't expect the World Cup record,” Schouten said. “I expected a PB but maybe not today. I am happy with another World Cup Record and another win. My training is going well, I am having more fun than I ever have before.

“My coach said to me, just go for it, you won’t die no matter what. He suggested that I think of the race as 4x50 instead of another 200. Fifty’s are sets that we do in practice, and that advice made a difference tonight.”

New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather also finished off her triple crown with a 4:02.35 in the 400m freestyle to start the session as the Worlds bronze medalist outlasted Australia’s Lani Pallister (4:03.43) in the process for the third straight weekend.

“I love racing the 400 free,” Fairweather said. “I am just so stoked. Lani always pushes me and I know we were watching each other the entire time. I was pleased with my time.  It feels great to have won all three races in the World Cup this season.”

Australia’s World Champion Sam Short made his 2023 World Cup debut with a win in the 400m freestyle at 3:44.51, while Great Britain’s Ben Proud returned to the site of his World title in 2022 with a gold in the 50m freestyle at 21.77.

“I was watching the races the past two weeks and saw some really fast times thrown down in October and I wanted to come join in,” Proud said. “Budapest being one of my favourite pools, I wanted to come here and execute a good race. 21 anything I would be really happy with and 21.7 in October I think is great.”