Latest news with #backstroke
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
McKeown swims to CR to win 100m back at worlds
Kaylee McKeown's championship-record time of 57.16 seconds landed her the win in the 100m backstroke at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, with U.S. swimmers Regan Smith and Katharine Berkoff rounding out the podium.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cerasuolo claims first world title in 50m breast
Simone Cerasuolo won the men's 50m backstroke in Singapore in 26.54 seconds for his first career world title and Italy's first gold medal at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
ABC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Kaylee McKeown into backstroke final at world swimming titles as Alex Perkins wins bronze
Australia's five-time Olympic gold medallist Kaylee McKeown has set up a showdown with US rival Regan Smith in the women's 100 metres backstroke final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. McKeown and world-record holder Smith went to head-to-head in Monday night's semifinals, with the American narrowly winning in a time of 58.21 seconds. After the race, McKeown — who swam 58.44 — revealed she did not want to swim the race. "I didn't actually want to do the 100 at this meet," she said. "I just wanted to come in and do the relays and the 200 backstroke, so [I'm] putting myself out there for a little bit. Good to get the monkey off my back." That monkey was the pressure McKeown felt she was putting on herself, as well as the media's expectations. "I don't really care if I come first [or] if come last, I just want to find love for the sport again," McKeown said. McKeown completed the 100-200m backstroke double at the Paris Olympics just months after Smith broke the Queenslander's world record at the US trials. She said the experience was overwhelming. "Off the back of Paris, I just found I was getting a bit consumed with the pressure and the nerves, not only [what] the media circulates, but [what] I put on myself," she said. "So, I'm really just taking this year to get back into it, find my love for the sport again, because I don't ever want to lose that." Asked whether she was succeeding in that mission to regain her love, McKeown responded: "Absolutely." McKeown said she had benefited from making changes in her personal life. "I've moved back to the Sunshine Coast now and it's been the best move that I could have done for myself," she said. "I'm the happiest I've been outside the sport for a really, really long time and hopefully maybe not this year, but next year it will start showing in my swimming, too." Not that her swimming is exactly bad, rather it is just not at a world-record level just yet. "I think it would be boring if there wasn't a rivalry [with Smith]," McKeown said. "It's the reason that swimming becomes competitive. That's all I've really got to say on that." McKeown would not be drawn on her ambition for the 100m backstroke final, a race she did not want to swim. "I don't care what anyone's telling me. I'm going to be really, really stubborn with this," McKeown said. "I don't care what you guys [media] want to put on me. I'm just here to have a good time and have fun and, like I said, if that's coming last, if that's coming first, I'm here for a good time." It was a more subdued night for Australia in Singapore after the double gold success of Sunday night. Australia's only medal was a bronze to Alex Perkins in the women's 100m butterfly. Perkins was third in a time of 56.33 to finish behind US world record holder Gretchen Walsh, who set a championship mark of 54.73 in the final. The bronze was Perkins's first individual medal at a World Aquatics Championships. "I couldn't be happier, honestly," she said. "I tried not to expect anything going into that final. I just wanted to put my best foot forward and be proud of what I've done. "Coming away with a medal is just a bonus." Walsh had been battling food poisoning and had pulled out of the women's 4x100m freestyle relay final the previous evening. But on Monday she powered home to record the second-fastest time in history. Perkins, swimming in lane three next to Walsh (lane four), said she did not dare to dream that the American great's upset stomach might give her an outside chance of victory. "No, she's [Walsh] an incredible athlete. I knew she'd be in the race and wanting that individual world title, and I think that lifts the whole field," Perkins said. "So I'm really happy she was there and I got to race alongside her. She's just incredible. "[I] had a little chat to her in marshalling. She's lovely and humble." Perkins, who turned 25 on Sunday, debuted for Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She has won silver medals in relays at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships as a heat swimmer. Perkins said she had always seen herself as more of a trainer than a racer. "I just feel like I trained at a level that was higher than I was racing, but now I really feel it's starting to reflect in my racing a little bit more," Perkins said. Canadian Summer McIntosh made it two golds from as many events, winning the women's 200m individual medley. McIntosh triumphed in a time of 2:06.69, which is a second slower than the world record she set at the Canadian trials. But it was almost 2 seconds faster than American Alex Walsh, who finished second. Eighteen-year-old McIntosh is contesting five individual races and two relays in Singapore. Michael Phelps is the only swimmer to have won five individual gold medals at a single edition of the World Aquatic Championships, a feat he achieved when the event was held in Melbourne in 2007. After claiming gold in the men's 4x100m relay, Australia's Flynn Southam (1:45.80) narrowly missed out on a place in the final of the men's 200m freestyle, finishing 10th fastest across the two semifinals.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Backstroke superstar McKeown keen to find happy place
Australian backstroke star Kaylee McKeown has a chance to nab a world championship gold medal against her arch rival on Tuesday night, but she won't be satisfied unless she has fun while doing it. McKeown did what was needed on Monday night in qualifying second fastest for the 100m backstroke final at the world swimming championships in Singapore. Only one person was faster than McKeown in the semis - American Regan Smith. McKeown is the two-time Olympic champion in the 100m backstroke, but it's Smith who holds the current world record after posting a time of 57.13 seconds in 2024. That edged out McKeown's previous world record effort of 57.33. The pair's showdown in Singapore on Tuesday night is set to be huge, but McKeown doesn't want to adopt a win-at-all-costs mentality. "In Paris I really got consumed by the pressure and the nerves, especially the ones I put on myself," McKeown told Channel 9. "So I've really just taken a step back and I'm just trying to enjoy swimming again. "I love the sport and I don't want to ever lose that. So that's my focus for this week, just finding the love for it. "I don't care if I come last (or) first. I'm just here for a good time." Australia won two golds on the opening night after coming up trumps in the men's and women's 4x100m freestyle relays. Bronze was Australia's only reward on Monday, with Alexandria Perkins finishing third in the women's 100m butterfly in a race that was won by star American and world record holder Gretchen Walsh. Perkins' third-placed result was still enough for Australia to retain top spot on the medal standings with two gold, one silver and one bronze to their name. But Canada is right on their tail after 18-year-old superstar Summer McIntosh won her second gold medal of the meet, following up her 400m freestyle success with victory in the 200m individual medley on Monday night. McIntosh is aiming for five individual gold medals across the championships, and she'll take some beating if her early form is anything to go by. Australian Lani Pallister will be up against American great Katie Ledecky in the women's 1500m final on Tuesday night. Moesha Johnson, who won Olympic silver in the 10km open swim for Australia at the 2024 Games in Paris, is also in the 1500m final. Other finals on Tuesday night include the men's 200m freestyle, men's 100m backstroke, and women's 100m breaststroke. Queensland's Sam Short, who won silver in the 400m men's freestyle final on Sunday, will compete in the 800m freestyle heats on Tuesday.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
American Smith fastest in 100 backstroke heats, Ledecky dominates 1,500
July 28 (Reuters) - World record holder Regan Smith was fastest in the women's 100 metres backstroke preliminaries at the world championships in Singapore on Monday as the American laid down an early marker in her upcoming battle with Australia's Kaylee McKeown. The pair have built up quite the rivalry, with McKeown completing a triumphant defence of her Olympic 100 and 200 backstroke titles when the two faced off in Paris last year, with Smith having to settle for silver in both events. Smith came into the world championships as the top seed in the event ahead of five-times Olympic gold medallist McKeown and posted a time 58.20 on the second day of competition at the Singapore Sports Hub. American Katharine Berkoff was second quickest with 58.55, while 2023 world champion McKeown's time of 58.57 put her in third heading into the semis later on Monday. In the men's event, world record holder and Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon was given a scare as he only squeaked into the semi-finals with the 13th-fastest time in the heats. Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard was fastest, touching the wall in a personal best 52.30, with Russian Kliment Kolesnikov, competing as a neutral athlete, second quickest with 52.57. Italian Ceccon's time was 1.35 adrift of Ndoye-Brouard's mark. American great Katie Ledecky put the disappointment of missing out on the 400 freestyle title on Sunday behind her with a strong swim in her signature event -- the lung-bursting 1,500 freestyle. The 28-year-old, who is the world record holder and has won five world titles in the event, posted a time of 15:36.68, which was more than 10 seconds quicker than Australia's Lani Pallister, the winner of the second heat. Ireland's Mona McSharry posted 1:05.99 to go through fastest in the women's 100 breaststroke heats, nearly half a second ahead of defending champion Tang Qianting of China, who was seventh quickest (1:06.45). World record holder Lilly King was well off the pace but scraped through in 15th almost a second down on McSharry's time. There were few surprises in the men's 200 freestyle as Olympic champion David Popovici of Romania turned up the heat in the final 50 to put down a time of 1:45.43. American Luke Hobson qualified second fastest in 1:45.61 but China's Pan Zhanle failed to progress, the 100 freestyle Olympic champion and world record holder trailing in 22nd in the heats. "I'm not sure what happened, and I'm not happy with this time," Pan said. "But it won't affect my upcoming races. The 200m and 100m are two different events." In the evening programme, all eyes will once again be on Canadian powerhouse Summer McIntosh as she goes for her second gold of the meet in the women's 200 individual medley, while China's 12-year-old swimming sensation Yu Zidi is also in action.
