Can Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith Continue Backstroke Dominance in Singapore?
The last time Kaylee McKeown was beaten in a major international final of the 100 or 200 backstroke was 2019. The Australian won double individual gold in both Tokyo and Paris while winning four world titles in the stroke in between. Her sweep of the 50, 100 and 200-meter events in 2023 made her the first woman to ever pull off that triple for any stroke on the global level.
Right behind McKeown has been American Regan Smith, who was the silver medalist in all three backstroke events in 2023 and in the 100 and 200 at the Paris Games. Smith was the last swimmer to beat McKeown in a championship final of the 100 or 200 back, doing so in the 2009 Worlds final of the 200-meter event. Smith took take down McKeown’s world record in the 100 at last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials, and she lowered the Olympic record in the 100 back leading off the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay, surpassing McKeown head-to-head in the process. While McKeown skipped the Short Course World Championships in December, Smith swept all three backstroke events, all in world-record time.
Is this the year that Smith finally gets the better of McKeown in a major final? And will anyone step up to break up this two-woman stranglehold on gold and silver?
Regan Smith — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
In the 100 back, such a scenario seems highly doubtful. Smith has the top time this year at 57.46, followed by McKeown at 57.65, and no one else has cracked 58. Katharine Berkoff, the bronze medalist in this event in Paris and at the 2023 Worlds, has been under that barrier in the past, and so has Canadian Kylie Masse, but neither has lifetime bests on par with Smith and McKeown’s season-best times. McKeown has 11 of the 21 fastest performances in history in the 100 back, with Smith owning the other 10. Berkoff and Masse will contend for bronze, with the rest of the field likely to be significantly behind, but nothing is changing with the top-two, except perhaps their order.
However, contenders have emerged to take over in the 50 and 200-meter races, most notably the American swimmers who edged Smith for wins at U.S. Nationals last month. In the 50, the slight gold-medal favorite is Berkoff, who became the second-fastest woman in history with her time of 26.97 at Nationals. Only McKeown, with her time of 26.86 in October 2023, has ever beaten that mark.
The field will head to Singapore in a tight bunch, with six swimmers separated in the world rankings by less than a quarter-second. In order, that list includes Berkoff, McKeown, China’s Wen Letian, Masse, Great Britain’s Lauren Cox and Smith. France’s Analia Pigrée is a past global medalist in this event who could also contend. Smith may struggle to make the podium here as she would be racing the 50 back final minutes after going for a medal in the 200 butterfly.
In the 200, one swimmer is capable of upsetting the established order. Claire Curzan did not qualify for the U.S. team for the 2023 Worlds or 2024 Olympics, but she made a dramatic return to the major stage with an outside-smoke win in the 200 back at U.S. Nationals, beating out Smith in the process. Her time of 2:05.09 made her the seventh-fastest performer in history, and Curzan now owns the third-quickest best time of anyone in the field. With Masse not racing the 200-meter event this year, the gap in lifetime bests from Curzan to the fourth-best swimmer, China’s Peng Xuwei, is almost one-and-a-half seconds.
Curzan previously swept the backstroke events at the lightly-attended Doha World Championships in February 2024, and with only the 200 on her schedule this year, she will be heavily favored for a medal. So far this year, McKeown has the quickest time at 2:04.27, with Smith’s 2:05.84 ranking third. The Australian remains in position to continue her winning streak, but Curzan might be a tougher competitor than Smith, at least for this year.
There is a very heavy American presence among medal favorites in the women’s backstroke events, and a handful of swimmers who did not qualify for the team could have been in the hunt. Four of the top-seven 100 backstrokers this year come from the U.S., and in the 200 back, seven of the top-11 swimmers in the world and nine of the top-15 are Americans. Leah Shackley and Phoebe Bacon were among those close to qualifying in both events, although Bacon eventually did book a ticket to Singapore in the 200 IM.
In the end, Berkoff and Curzan were the swimmers to make the cut alongside Smith, and that trio along with McKeown could end up sweeping all nine backstroke medals on offer at Worlds. Maybe the McKeown-Smith stranglehold is broken up, but these two standouts will not be far away from the top.