'Nervous' McKeown beats rival Smith for more backstroke gold

Australia's Kaylee McKeown beat nerves and great rival Regan Smith in a humdinger to win the 100m backstroke world gold Tuesday, narrowly missing the world record.McKeown fought back to power to the wall in a championship record 57.16sec, with Smith having to once more settle for second, just 0.19sec behind. Katharine Berkoff, also of the United States, took bronze in Singapore.McKeown's victory underlines her status as the undisputed force in women's backstroke. "It's always very nerve-wracking, especially off the back of the Olympics," said the 24-year-old, who won the 100-200m backstroke double at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. "I was probably a bit more nervous than I would like to have been tonight."This was another chapter in the storied rivalry between arch-rivals Smith and McKeown. The 23-year-old American Smith set a world record of 57.13sec at the 2024 US Olympic trials, snatching McKeown's world record.However, McKeown got the better of the American to win gold at the Paris Olympics, relegating Smith into silver in both the 100m and 200m backstroke. Ahead of Singapore, McKeown and Smith shared the 20 fastest times in history.Smith once more pushed McKeown all the way, the Australian's time a personal best on the way to a fifth world gold. "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," said McKeown. "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."Silver medallist Smith clocked her third-fastest swim ever – and all with acute gastroenteritis having swept through the majority of the US squad in Singapore. "America as a whole had the odds stacked against us," she said."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."