Kaylee McKeown has never known such nerves before capturing Australia’s fifth gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
McKeown’s 100 metres backstroke triumph on Tuesday night follows her disqualification from the 200m individual medley semi-finals.
After railing against what she described as a “completely unfair” verdict in the medley, McKeown steeled herself for the backstroke.
She succeeded, coming within 0.08 seconds of her world record – but only after overcoming an unusually strong bout of nerves.
“I was very, very nervous heading in, probably more so than I have ever been,” McKeown said.
“It was just to real testament myself dealing with what I have over the past few hours.
“Nerves just mean that you care about what you’re doing. When you train so hard for something, you just want it to all come together at the right moment.”
McKeown – who hails from the Sunshine Coast but now trains on the Gold Coast – touched in 57.53 seconds, just outside her world record of 57.45 set in Adelaide in 2021.
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