Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown became world champion in the 50m backstroke Thursday in Fukuoka (Japan), ahead of American Regan Smith, while Frenchwoman Analia Pigrée took 8th place in the final.
McKeon, triple Olympic champion in Tokyo in the 100m, 200m backstroke and 4x100m medley, won in 27 sec 08/100 in this discipline which is not on the program of the Olympic Games.
She finished ahead of American Regan Smith, who had won bronze in the 200m butterfly a few minutes earlier, and Britain’s Lauren Cox. The French Analia Pigrée, European champion of the distance in 2022, took the last place in the final in 28 sec 04/100.