Hong Kong’s Haughey sets new mark in 50m freestyle, McKeown becomes first woman to hold every backstroke world record
- Australia’s Kaylee McKeown claims 50m title during World Cup leg in Budapest
- Siobhan Haughey lowers personal best time while claiming silver in sprint race won by Sarah Sjostrom
Australian Kaylee McKeown said she was “super stoked” after becoming the first woman to hold world records in all three backstroke disciplines by smashing the 50m mark.
The 22-year-old clocked 26.86 seconds at the World Cup in Budapest on Friday to better the previous best of 26.98 set by China’s Liu Xiang in 2018.
Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, meanwhile, continued her pace-setting trend, lowering her personal best on the way to silver in the 50m freestyle in a time of 24.30 seconds.
The 25-year-old’s time was quicker than the city record 20.34 she swan to claim silver at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month.
As for China, the nation’s top male and female swimmers, Qin Haiyang and Zhang Yufei, left Berlin, Athens and Budapest as champions in the men’s 100m breaststroke and women’s 200m butterfly respectively. Both received a bonus prize of US$10,000 as well as ‘triple crown’ status.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom took gold in 23.97, the only woman to have dipped below 24 this year. Australia’s Bronte Campbell claimed bronze in 24.42.
“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.”
Like Haughey, McKeown is among the favourites to dominate in the pool at next year’s Paris Olympics, and the Australian said she had never seen herself as a sprinter.
“The only thing I can keep doing is training hard and keep believing in myself and believing in my coach.
“Next year is going to be a really tough year so the more confidence I can build, the better.”
McKeown has held the 100m world record since June 2021 and bagged the 200m in March.
She swept the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke titles at the world championships in July and also owns the Olympic 100m and 200m golds. The 50m back is not contested at the Olympics.
“I think it’s just a matter of coming and racing,” McKeown said. “It doesn’t really matter what you do, you just got to put yourself on the line.
“I love this pool. I do have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it, but obviously I love it tonight, especially after that race.”
