Kaylee McKeown arrived in Singapore ready to "give it a go" - and what a go it was! The greatest backstroke swimmer in history, with back-to-back golds over 100 and 200m at the the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, the Australian shrugged off a dislocated shoulder to put the best of the rest back in their box once again.

The race with American rival Regan Smith was yet another tight thriller, the World record holder setting the pace, the Australian sticking to her like glue, but the clock confirming the gap at the turn, Smith on 27.70, 0.22sec ahead of McKeown.

Off the wall, the first 20 metres there was no discernible change but just when it looked as though this might be the end of McKeown's victory run in every challenge filed under a folder marked "when it m lost counts", the Boxing Kangaroo of backstrokers hit back.

It would be fair to say it looked as though the tables turned that critical touch the moment Smith sensed that McKeown's shadow was going taller, but that description suggests the fight was done, when it wasn't.

Smith fought all the way to the wall, but she was racing against a rival about to raced faster than she ever had: 57.16, an Oceania and Commonwealth record just 0.03sec shy of Smith's global mark. The American took silver, in 57.35, her USA teammate Katherine Berkoff the bronze in 58.15, Canadian Kylie Masse just shy, in 58.42:

In some ways, McKeown has nothing left to prove after matching Roland Matthes' 1972-1976 feat of retaining both Olympic backstroke titles, and yet, you get the feeling that McKeown wants it all, including reclaiming the 100m World record Smith took from her at U.S. Olympic trials last year.

McKeown's last major-meet 100m defeat dates back to Gwangju 2019 World titles, when Masse took the crown, Australia's Minna Atherton silver and American Olivia Smoliga bronze. McKeown finished fifth.

She arrived at the 2025 Championships wondering whether she had what it takes to would take, both physically and mentally, to be at her best. Any remaining doubt evaporated in 57.16sec, a rime all the more astonishing for the revelation McKeown made to the Sydney Morning Herald:

“I popped my shoulder out two weeks before flying up to Darwin, so I’m just trying to manage that and make sure it’s not going to be an ongoing thing."

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McKeown dislocated her shoulder four weeks ago. She just produced one of the swims of her life

Kaylee McKeown delivered another psychological blow to her American rival Regan Smith after a brilliant gold medal at the world championships before an ice-cold response that shows there is no love lost.

The Sydney Morning HeraldTom Decent

In the mixed zone, she added: "I’ve got a really flexible stroke and it’s to my benefit when I swim backstrokes but sometimes it can cause me to dislocate my shoulder. It’s been quite irritated but I’ve got a good medical team and physiotherapists to help me get through.” 

McKeown left Paris last year elated but more exhausted than she'd thought at first. Feeling the pressure to set off on World Cup tour in Aussie spring, she raced once and decided she'd had enough. The fun had gone out of it, so she took a long break and only got back in to full training at the turn of the year, and then own the basis that she was no longer going to just do what others old her was best for her. From now on, she would own it.

Battle done and won, McKeown said:

“I’m really really proud. It’s a little bit emotional, I’ve worked so hard just to get myself into a happy state and it’s just what I’ve been focusing on. I think it goes to show that a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer. I have trained hard but I wasn’t expecting to make a personal best tonight.”

On clocks and medals, she sad:

“I think I just have to take it one step at a time, and I will swim fast. I’m just thankful that today I was able to get my hand on the wall (first). There were a lot of comments of me saying that I’m scared to lose but that’s not the case at all. If anything, I’m scared to fail myself. I’ve worked really, really hard to get up there tonight and prove to myself that I am a good athlete and swimmer. It doesn’t matter if I come first or last.”

Brava! Demons be gone:

“I just didn’t want to keep steering away from fear because the more that you feel fear, it becomes like a monster and you gotta chase your demons at some point. I thought it was better to start sooner rather than later.”

Regan's Reasons To Be Thoughtful & Cheerful

Smth put in a truly excellent performance, one that brought the fight to McKeown just by the very presence of the skill sets on show, no need for stare-downs.

She looked very thoughtful after the race. What was she thinking?

“I was thinking about the start. During my semi-finals swim, my start was my weakest point. I don’t like being beaten off the start, it’s something I take a lot of pride in, so on the start, I was thinking about how I wanted my start to be and how I wanted to feel, and it worked out well, because that was one of my better starts in a while.”

And better performances:

“This was my third fastest swim ever, so I’m incredibly pleased with it. It was a really good execution, and at the end of the day, America as a whole had the odds stacked against us. We had a really unfortunate situation happen to us during a training camp, and I did not think I was going to go for 57.35.” 

“To come up with a silver, I can’t really control the place of the medal, but what I can control is how fast I swim and how well I can do my race, and I think I did an incredible job, especially under the circumstances.”

Her teammate Katharine Berkoff was also "really happy with that swim" because:

"It was a really tough week, just getting so sick, and I finally feel a lot better today. So I was super excited to wake up and feel decent. And I was super happy with that time, given the whole situation. I was just trying to execute my own race, just get the details right. It’s been an uncertain week, and I was really happy with how I executed it. I like the chase, and I like the pressure of being the favourite (too). Either way for me, it’s fun.” 

On racing with two athletes who are the fastest in the event’s history, Berkoff, the daughter of David Berkoff, Olympic backstroke medallist of 1988 and 1992, said:

“It’s so special. It makes it so much more inspiring. I know every year they’re going to be ready to go really fast, have the fastest times in the world, and I want to be there too. It’s just extremely motivational, it’s really cool to be part of that backstroke history.” 

As was the medal ceremony for the same reasons: the honours were handed out by 2004 and 2008 Olympic 200m backstroke champion Kirsty Coventry, now IOC president, and the first woman to hold that position to boot.