Kaylee McKeown Blasts 2:08.66 200 IM In Prelims Of Australia Open, 35.52 Breaststroke Split

By Anya Pelshaw on SwimSwam

2024 AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, April 17th – Saturday, April 20th
• Prelims at 10am local (8pm previous night ET), Finals at 6pm local (4am ET)
• Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Queensland, Australia
• LCM (50m)
• Non-Olympic Qualifying Event
• Women’s Races to Watch / Men’s Races to Watch
• Meet Central
• Final Start List
• Live Results (also available via Meet Mobile: “2024 Australian Open Championships”)
• Australian Channel 9 Livestream / YouTube Livestream
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap

WOMEN’S 200 IM – HEATS

• World Record – 2:06.12, Katinka Hosszu (2015)
• Australian Record – 2:07.03, Stephanie Rice (2009)
• Commonwealth Record – 2:06.88, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor (2016)
• Australian Olympic Qualifying Time – 2:10.62

Top 10 Qualifiers:

1. Kaylee McKeown (GUSC) – 2:08.66
2. Ella Ramsay (CHAN) – 2:11.98
3. Kayla Hardy (CRUIZ) – 2:15.57

Kaylee McKeown blasted a 2:08.66 in prelims for the top time of the morning by over three seconds. That time was just over a second off of her best time of a 2:07.60 from 2023 Australian Trials.

Split Comparison:

	2024 Aussie Open	2023 Aussie Trials
50 Fly	29.14	27.74
50 Back	33.58	32.08
50 Breast	35.52	37.25
50 Free	30.42	30.53
Total	2:08.66	2:07.60

Her biggest split from this morning’s swim was her breaststroke split as it was almost two seconds faster than her split during her best time. She was out slower today on both the butterfly and backstroke legs.

To show how big of a split this was, here are the splits of Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh from their best 200 IM times.

	McKeown	Douglass	Walsh
50 breast	35.52	36.8	36.84

This morning’s swim ranks at #8 in the world this year so far. Douglass of the US leads the way after swimming a 2:07.05 in finals at 2024 Worlds in Doha.

The 200 IM overlaps with the 200 backstroke at the 2024 Olympic Games. Prelims and semifinals of the 200 IM are on the same day as the final of the 200 backstroke. In finals, the final of the 200 backstroke is scheduled to begin just 55 minutes before the start of the semifinal of the 200 IM.

The next day, the 200 IM final is 34 minutes before the final of the mixed 4×100 medley relay. McKeown led off Australia’s 4×100 mixed medley relay to bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games and led the relay off to silver at the 2023 World Championships.

McKeown swam the event at 2023 Worlds but was disqualified in semifinals for the back to breast turn as she did not touch the fall fully on her back. In other words, she rotated too far during the cross-over turn too early.

SwimSwam: Kaylee McKeown Blasts 2:08.66 200 IM In Prelims Of Australia Open, 35.52 Breaststroke Split