See all of our 2024 Swammy Awards here.
It was all to play for in 2024 for Kaylee McKeown. Despite asserting herself as the best female backstroker in the world in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the slate was wiped clean for the Olympic year.
With her American counterpart Regan Smith reaching new heights under her new training program, McKeown had her work cut out for her this year, and she delivered in spades.
Everything in 2024 was about performing at the Olympics for McKeown, but that didn’t stop her from swimming fast all year.
Opting not to defend her backstroke world titles at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, McKeown began her year by clocking 58.19 in the 100 back at the Victorian Open Long Course Championships in late February, and she only picked it up from there.
The now 23-year-old was explosive at the NSW State Open Championships in March, putting up times of 27.25 in the 50 back, 57.57 in the 100 back and 2:04.21 in the 200 back, plus posting 2:08.84 in the 200 IM. On top of that, she set a personal best of 1:56.06 in the 200 free.
McKeown continued to build through the spring, setting a pair of Australian Records in the 200 IM (2:06.99) and 400 IM (4:28.22) at the Australian Open Championships in April, adding a season-best time of 2:03.84 in the 200 back, the sixth-fastest swim in history at the time, and a new All Comers Record in the 50 back (27.07).
She left that meet ranked #1 in the world in five events, rolling her into the Australian Olympic Trials where it was another dominant performance for the Griffith University product.
McKeown clocked 57.41 in the 100 back, the second-fastest swim ever at the time, 2:03.30 in the 200 back, which remains the second-fastest swim ever, and 2:06.63 in the 200 IM, which was the fourth-fastest ever at the time (now #5) and broke the Commonwealth and Australian Records.
All of that led to the Olympic Games, where McKeown would faceoff with Smith, who broke McKeown’s 100 back world record at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
After sweeping the women’s backstroke events at the Tokyo Games, McKeown completed the double-double, defending her Olympic titles in both races.
In the 100 back, McKeown matched her personal best time (and former world record, second-fastest swim ever) in the final, clocking 57.33 for a new Olympic Record to top Smith (57.66).
Three days later in the 200 back, McKeown produced another Olympic Record, coming from behind to clock 2:03.73 for the sixth-fastest swim in history and a new Olympic Record, defending her gold medal.
The following day, in arguably the most anticipated race of the entire swimming competition in Paris, McKeown added a third individual medal in the 200 IM, earning bronze behind Summer McIntosh (2:06.56) and Kate Douglass (2:06.92) in a time of 2:08.08. American Alex Walsh initially touched in third but was disqualified.
In addition to her individual swims, McKeown also led off the Australian mixed 4×100 medley relay (57.90) that won bronze, and the women’s 4×100 medley relay (57.72) that earned silver, bringing her medal tally to five in Paris.
That tied McKeown with four other athletes, all swimmers, for the second-most medals won in Paris, with China’s Zhang Yufei leading with six.
Among Australians, Mollie O’Callaghan also won five medals in Paris, and had one more gold than McKeown, but notably had just one individual medal.
McKeown’s 2024 Performances That Rank Top 10 All-Time
- Women’s 50 Back
- Women’s 100 Back
- 57.33 – #3 (tie)
- 57.41 – #5
- Women’s 200 Back
- 2:03.30 – #2
- 2:03.73 – #6
- 2:03.84 – #8
- Women’s 200 IM
- Women’s 400 IM
In addition to her elite swims in the back and IM events, McKeown also ranked tied for 14th in the world in 2024 in the 200 free, 27th in the 400 free, tied for 40th in the 100 breast and tied for 63rd in the 100 free.
McKeown’s Top 100 World Rankings, 2023
- 50 back – #1 (27.07)
- 200 back – #1 (2:03.30)
- 100 back – #2 (57.33)
- 200 IM – #2 (2:06.63)
- 400 IM – #2 (4:28.22)
- 200 free – t-#14 (1:56.06)
- 400 free – #27 (4:06.85)
- 100 breast – t-#40 (1:07.01)
- 100 free – t-#63 (54.35)
McKeown came out of the Olympics on fire, breaking the world record in the women’s 100 back in short course meters at the Australian SC Championships in September, touching in 54.56 to erase fellow Aussie Minna Atherton‘s five-year-old mark of 54.89.
McKeown also swam to a new Aussie Record in the 50 back (25.40) at the meet, ranking her #2 all-time (at the time), and then she bettered that performance the following month during the first day of the World Cup circuit in Shanghai, clocking 25.36.
She also finished third in the 100 IM in a PB of 57.76, but after one day of racing the series, McKeown announced she was withdrawing and putting her “mental health first,” having already opted out of the Short Course World Championships.
The year may not have featured as many world records as 2023 for McKeown, but as the lone Australian to win multiple individual golds in Paris, and tying for second among all athletes at the Games with five medals, there’s no denying her as the Oceanian Female Swimmer of the Year for the third straight time.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS) – After winning three relay medals in Tokyo, O’Callaghan raced her first individual events at the Olympics in Paris, walking away with five medals highlighted by an individual gold in the women’s 200 free. Racing head-to-head with Aussie rival Ariarne Titmus, O’Callaghan pulled away on the last 50 to win gold in an Olympic Record time of 1:53.27. That swim came after the two had an exciting showdown at the Australian Olympic Trials, where Titmus broke the world record (1:52.23) and O’Callaghan went 1:52.48, under her previous record of 1:52.85. In Paris, O’Callaghan led off the victorious women’s 4×100 free and 4×200 free relays for Australia, both setting Olympic Records, and anchored the silver medal-winning women’s medley relay and the bronze medal-winning mixed medley relay. In her other individual race of the Games, the 100 free, she placed 4th in a time of 52.34, one one-hundredth shy of a medal. At the Olympic Trials, in addition to her 200 free swim which ranks #2 all-time, O’Callaghan became just the fourth woman in history to break 58 seconds in the 100 back, clocking 57.88 to rank #4 all-time (now #5). She ultimately dropped the 100 back from her Olympic program, however. She finishes the year ranked 2nd in the world in the 100 free and 200 free, 4th in the 100 back, and also 18th in the 50 free (24.49).
- Ariarne Titmus (AUS) – Titmus was among the swimmers to win three individual medals in Paris, defending her Olympic title in the women’s 400 free while adding silver medals in the 200 free behind O’Callaghan and in the 800 free behind Katie Ledecky. Titmus also produced a blistering 1:52.95 anchor leg on the Aussie women’s 4×200 free relay that won gold, giving her four medals at the Games. Her 800 free swim in Paris also marked a new Oceanian Record (8:12.29). A month and a half earlier at the Australian Olympic Trials, Titmus broke the world record in the women’s 200 free (1:52.23), came within six one-hundredths of it in the 400 free (3:55.44), and won the 800 free (8:14.06). The now 24-year-old finishes the year ranked 1st in the 200 free and 400 free, and 3rd in the 800 free.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
- 2023 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
- 2022 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
- 2021 – Emma McKeon, Australia
- 2020 – Kaylee McKeown, Australia
- 2019 – Ariarne Titmus, Australia
- 2018 – Ariarne Titmus, Australia
- 2017 – Emily Seebohm, Australia
- 2016 – Cate Campbell, Australia
- 2015 – Emily Seebohm, Australia
- 2014 – Cate Campbell, Australia
- 2013 – Cate Campbell, Australia
