Queensland Championships, Day 1 Relays: Kaylee McKeown’s Sizzling 26.98 Lead Off – Just 0.12 outside Her Own 50m Backstroke World Record

Queensland Championships, Day 1 Relays: Kaylee McKeown’s Sizzling 26.98 – Just 0.12 outside Her Own 50m Backstroke World Record

Australia’s world backstroking supremo Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) has kick-started her 2023 Hancock Prospecting Queensland Championship campaign in sizzling fashion – nudging her own 50m backstroke world record on the opening day at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre.

The 22-year-old clocked a time of 26.98 – just 0.12 outside her world mark of 26.86 set in the final round of the World Cup Series in Budapest in October – the same time as the previous world record she broke, set by China’s Lui Xiang at the 2018 Asian Games.

MICHAEL’S SUPERBOHL STAR: Super Coach Michael Bohl with star pupil Kaylee McKeown having some fun at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre today. Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan Photography.

McKeown clocked the time in the opening leg of the 200m Club Medley Relay for Griffith University, eventually won by St Peters Western (SPW) in a new Queensland and Queensland All-Comers Record – held by an all-star Chandler team since 2017.

Ironically a Chandler team that included both Campbell sisters Bronte, who swam backstroke and Cate the butterfly – leaving a 19-year-old Shayna Jack to swim the anchor freestyle leg – just as she did today six years later for SPW.

McKeown had earlier gone head-to-head with Jack in the 200m Freestyle Club relay, Jack clocking the fastest 50m lead-off split of the day of 24.49 to McKeown’s fourth fastest time of 25.22.

And for the SPW girls Jack, Mollie O’Callaghan (24.56), Bri Throssell (25.01) and 16-year-old Jaclyn Barclay (25.24) they also erased the old Queensland records, clocking 1:39.30 – with the Campbell sisters and Jack also in the engine room in that team also in 2017.

For McKeown, she will continue her week-long campaign on Day Two in the women’s 200m freestyle which will feature world champion and world record holder O’Callaghan, Olympic champion, and former world record holder Ariarne Titmus, in her return to racing after emergency surgery to remove benign tumors from one of her ovaries in September.

And the ever-present Jack, when the battle begins for a place in Sunday night’s final.

Here is a look at the Top Five 50m Lead Off Times from today’s Opening Day’s Relay action:

Women’s 50m freestyle

1. Shayna Jack (St Peters Western) 24.49
2. Meg Harris (Rackley Swim Team) 24.55
3. Milla Jansen (Bond) 25.10
4. Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University) 25.22
5. Chloe Rowe-Hagans (St Andrews) 25.61

JUST FOR THE RECORD: Shayna Jack spearheaded St Peters Western to two Queensland records. Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan Photography.

Men’s 50m freestyle

1. Isaac Cooper (St Andrews) 22.28
2. Thomas Neill (Rackley Swim Team) 22.50
3. Ben Armbruster (Bond) 22.65
4. Jezze Gorman (Bond) 22.66
5. Jamie Jack (St Peters Western) 22.79 (Shayna’s brother)

Women’s 50m backstroke

1. Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University) 26.98
2. Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western) 27.90
3. Bronte Job (Rackley Swim Team) 28.41
4. Layla Day (Bond) 28.95
5. Zoe Amundsen (Iona) 29.02

BACK ON DECK: Mollie O’Callaghan just happy to be back racing.Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan Photography

Men’s 50m backstroke

1. Isaac Cooper (St Andrews A) 24.74
2. Lewis Blackburn (St Andrews B) 25.54
3. Ben Armbruster (Bond) 25.62
4. Ty Hartwell (Rackley Swim Team) 26.32
5. Fergus McLachlan (Bond B) 26.36

BREAKING OUT: Isaac Cooper in fine touch. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr Swimming Australia

DAY ONE RELAY RESULTS