Australia's latest swimming world record holder Kaylee McKeown was fighting fatigue, yet still clocked the fastest 200m individual medley in almost two years.
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A night after breaking the 100m backstroke world record, McKeown streeted the field in Monday night's medley final at Australia's Olympic trials in Adelaide.
The 19-year-old had just four-and-a-half hours sleep after her adrenaline-charged backstroke feat.
"That is probably the toughest thing I had to overcome this morning, there was a lot of fatigue," she said.
"I just looked at (coach Chris) Mooney and said 'I don't know how this is going to go'.
"He was really good, he understands, he just said 'give it your best, there's no pressure'.
"I just did the best I could recovery-wise.
"I tried to get to sleep and I couldn't, the adrenaline was still pumping."
McKeown won in two minutes 08.19 seconds, the fastest time in the world in the event since August, 2019.
"I need to improve on my turns a lot more, I just noticed myself that I was taking a bit of a breather on the wall," she said.
"But there's no complaints. I went under the qualifying time and a small PB (personal best) so I can't ask for much more."
McKeown was 3.6 seconds ahead of the next-best, Tessa Wallace, who failed finish inside the Olympic qualifying time.
Australian Associated Press