Backstroking’s “Miss Unstoppable” Kaylee McKeown Wins Australia’s Olympic Swimmer Of The Year
Australia’s “unstoppable” backstroking queen Kaylee McKeown has made a habit of going back-to-back in her stellar career in the pool and she did it again yesterday on the Gold Coast.
The 24-year-old McKeown was named the Olympic program Swimmer Of The Year for the second year running at Swimming Australia’s glittering Annual Awards Ceremony. McKeown beat fellow nominees and world champions Cameron McEvoy, Meg Harris and Mollie O’Callaghan in an all-star lineup.
McKeown (USC Spartans, QLD) continued her unprecedented dominance in 2025 by winning the 100 and 200m backstroke world championship double crown in Singapore – taking her World Championships gold medal tally to six and her overall medal tally to 15 with her ninth silver in the women’s 4x100m medley relay before launching a red hot World Cup campaign.
Australia’s double Olympic backstroke champion from Tokyo and Paris has lived up to that “unstoppable” tag, claiming her second 100-meter backstroke world title (2023-25) in a time just .03 outside the world record and later her third 200m crown (2022-23-25). Afterward, she revealed she had suffered a dislocated shoulder four weeks before the Championships
In two classic duels in the pool, McKeown maintained her six-year unbeaten 100m record, clocking 57.16, the second-fastest time in history, to out-touch U.S. rival and world-record holder Regan Smith (57.35; her third fastest time ever) in the 100m – and oh so close to the world record – setting a new Championship, Oceania, Commonwealth and Australian record. McKeown admitted she wasn’t that keen on swimming the 100, preferring to concentrate on the 200m…which she duly won in a new Championship Record of 2:03.33.
Her long course triumphs were followed by her short course heroics during the World Cup Series in October when she broke the 200m backstroke world record – not once but twice. Recording a time of 1:57.87 in Illinois (USA) on the 19th of October, McKeown bettered the world standard only to then clock 1:57.33 at the final leg of the series in Toronto (Canada) six days later.
The year was also a triumph, too, for McKeown’s new coach Michael Sage, following her decision to move home to the Sunshine Coast and the USC Spartans program. Sage was named the Olympic program Coach of The Year.
McKeown said in Singapore: “I’m so, so happy with that 100m…it’s really emotional after the lows I came back from after the Paris Olympics….so to come out…and forget about all the press and all the nerves and just swim….and it was really nice to see my mum Sharon in the crowd holding that ‘Boxing Kangaroo’ mascot – that was special.
“I’ve worked so hard just to get myself into a happy state and it’s just what I’ve been focusing on. I think it goes to show that a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer.”
And on issues with her shoulder? “I’ve got a really flexible stroke and it’s my benefit when I swim my backstrokes but sometimes it can cause me to dislocate my shoulder. It’s been quite irritated but I’ve got a good medical team and physiotherapists to help me get through.”
McKeown was joined by her fellow Singapore flyers and world championship gold medallists and fellow Queenslanders Moesha Johnson, named Open Water Swimmer of the Year; Callum Simpson the Paralympic Program winner and Lani Pallister the Short Course Swimmer of The Year – all capping off extraordinary 2025 campaigns.
Like McKeown, Johnson, also going back-to-back in 2024 and 2025 after her remarkable triumph to win two world titles in the space of 36-hours. Her maiden world title in the women’s 10km was followed by gold in the 5km, and she added bronze in the newly-created 3km knockout sprint.
Johnson’s efforts headlined the Dolphins most successful open water World Championship campaign.
The Lion City was also a happy hunting ground for Simpson: the 18-year-old Sunshine Coast Paralympic champion making his World Championship debut and claiming a medal in all five of his events including a world record and three Oceania records.
Simpson claimed the biggest medal haul at the 2025 World Para Championships with three golds, one silver and a bronze.
He was also part of the world record breaking mixed 4x100m freestyle 34pt relay team alongside Alexa Leary, Rowan Crothers and Chloe Osborn.
Pallister sensationally broke Katie Ledecky’s 800m freestyle short course world record during the 2025 World Cup Series in October, after she had laid down the foundation for success at the 2024 World Short Course Championships in Budapest last December.
Pallister was awarded the 2025 Short Course Program Swimmer of the Year, highlighted by her 800m freestyle gold in Budapest.
She also claimed two silvers in the 400m freestyle and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
And then at the Singapore Long Course Worlds, Pallister went toe-to-toe with Ledecky in an epic 800m showdown to win silver followed by a bronze in the 1500m.
Meanwhile n other awards:
THE AIS Discovery of the Year was awarded to Harrison Turner (Nudgee College, QLD) who, from lane eight, broke Nick D’Arcy’s 200m butterfly Australian record which had stood since 2009, claiming bronze in his first world championship final. Declaring “I’ve got a lane, I’ve got a chance”
LONDON 2012 Olympian Chris Wright (Flinders Phoenix, Sunshine Coast, QLD) won the Paralympic Program Coach of the Year; Ian Mills (North Coast, WA) was awarded Open Water Coach of the Year and Chris Mooney (Bond, QLD) the Youth Coach.
FLIPPER Athlete of the Year Olympic Program went to Bond QLD’s Ainsley Trotter, a 50m backstroke gold medallist from the 2025 World Junior Championships while Luke Higgs (Warringah Aquatic, NSW) won Flipper Open Water Athlete of the Year.
FLIPPER ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Paralympic Program went to Declan Budd (Knox-Pymble, NSW), who made his Dolphins debut at the World Para Championships, and qualifying for finals in all three of his events in Singapore, just weeks after graduating high school.
FULL LIST OF AWARDS – 2025
Program Swimmers of the Year
Olympic: Kaylee McKeown OAM
Open Water: Moesha Johnson (Miami, QLD)
Paralympic: Callum Simpson OAM
Short Course: Lani Pallister OAM
Flipper Program Swimmers Of The Year
Olympic: Ainsley Trotter (Bond, QLD)
Open Water: Luke Higgs (Warringah Aquatic, NSW)
Paralympic: Declan Budd (Knox Pymble, NSW)
Coaches of the Year
Olympic Program: Michael Sage (USC Spartans, QLD)
National Age: Chris Urquhart (Somerset, QLD)
Youth: Chris Mooney (Bond, QLD)
Open Water: Ian Mills (North Coast, WA)
Paralympic: Chris Wright (Flinders Phoenix, Sunshine Coast, QLD
AIS Discovery of the Year: Harrison Turner (Nudgee College, QLD)
Local Legend of the Year: Joshua Hofer OAM (Perth City, WA)
Pho3nix Foundation JX Swimmer of the Year: Ruby Eden (Newman Churchlands, WA)
Roger Smith Technical Official of the Year – Sarah Emery (Emu Park, QLD)
Australian Club of the Year – Guildford and Kalamunda Districts Swimming Club (WA)
