100 metres Backstroke, Women

The women’s 100 backstroke field had three swimmers who had held the world record at one time. American Regan Smith had set it first with 57.57 in opening the 2019 World Championship medley relay, while Australia’s Kaylee McKeown had three times gone under 58 seconds, most recently setting a world record at the Australian Olympic Trials with 57.45. Canadian Kylie Masse had swum 57.70 at the recent Canadian Olympic Trials, making her the third swimmer to crack the 58-second barrier, but she had also held the world mark back in 2017, swimming 58.10. Another swimmer to watch was the venerable Australian Emily Seebohm, the 2017 World Champion and the silver medallist at London in 2012.

All the favorites comfortably made it through the preliminaries and the semi-finals, including American challenger Rhyan White and Britain’s Kathleen Dawson. The favorites in the final were probably Smith and McKeown but it was very close. Masse led the first lap of the final in 27.91 with White second and McKeown third, but it was Kaylee McKeown who finished fastest to win the gold medal, coming in with ¼-second margin over Masse, as Smith also closed quickly for the bronze medal.

Four days later, McKeown would come back and complete the backstroke double, with Masse repeating her silver medal. McKeown would eventually win four medals, and three golds, in Tokyo with gold in the women’s medley relay and a bronze in the mixed medley relay.