Source :- THE AGE NEWS
By Tom Decent
Kaylee McKeown has taken out the women’s 50m backstroke title at Australian swimming trials after initially being disqualified earlier in the day but declined to explain what prompted her to flinch on the blocks.
McKeown won an appeal to be reinstated in the women’s 50m backstroke final after officials ruled she was “distracted by a movement” just as her first race of the week was about to start.
The world record holder’s time did not come up on the board after the first 50m backstroke heat, leaving her shattered as she left the pool at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
The two-time Olympian was consoled by a Swimming Australia staff member but was given good news about an hour later after her team won a formal appeal.
In a statement, Swimming Australia said: “McKeown … was disqualified after being ruled to initiate an early start from lane four of heat one but her protest was upheld after officials ruled in her favour that she was distracted by a movement immediately prior to the signal.”
Australian Olympian Cate Campbell said in commentary for Channel Nine she was “surprised” McKeown was allowed to return given she had clearly moved while holding herself up on the blocks waiting to race.
Kaylee McKeown in the women’s 50m backstroke on Monday in Adelaide.Credit: Getty Images
Replays showed the only person in McKeown’s line of sight appeared to be a photographer.
Swimmers wait to hear an electronic beep sound from a starter’s pistol before taking off.
The champion backstroker, who narrowly edged out Mollie O’Callaghan in the final by 0.06 seconds, was in no mood to elaborate on what distracted her.
McKeown said the drama would be a good lesson ahead of next month’s world championships in Singapore.
“I knew straight away, but I’m not really going to comment on any further. It’s just what happens,” Kaylee said on Channel Nine, before being asked again by reporters.
“Just simple. I got DQ’d [disqualified]. I got reinstated,” McKeown said.
“Thankfully we had the technology to look back at footage and saw the distraction and got reinstated. It’s good to mentally toughen yourself up.
“Tonight just wasn’t my night. Didn’t swim the way that I wanted to. Racing at 10 o’clock at night … isn’t exactly ideal.
“Coming off the Olympics, I was in a really dark place mentally. I think when you go from such a high straight back to such low, and you’re kind of left scrambling for ideas on what you’re going to do next, it is hard to find your feet once again.
“I’m really happy with where I am and the happiest I’ve been in probably a few years outside the pool.”
Meanwhile, Sam Short bounced back from his Olympic disappointment in Paris by clocking his fastest time in two years to take out his 400m freestyle final.
Short, who finished fourth in the 400m final at his maiden Olympics after battling injury and illness, comfortably edged out last year’s silver medallist Elijah Winnington by 2.96 seconds in a dominant display.
Sam Short celebrates winning the men’s 400m freestyle final. Credit: Getty Images
The time of 3:41.03 was also mighty impressive, given it was just a second outside German star Lukas Martens’ world record set earlier this year (3:39.96) and close to the time of 3:40.68 that Short produced during his epic 2023 world championship win in Fukuoka.
Short said his latest performance – and sharp heat swim of 3:43.21– would do wonders for his confidence after what he deemed a “failure” in Paris.
“I’ve been super motivated this year,” Short said. “I knew I could go 3:41 after this morning’s heat swim. It felt so comfy. Super stoked and I know I can go faster.
“I’ve got [heaps] of mates at home who would chop their legs off to just get the opportunity to come fourth at the Olympics. I had to put that in perspective.”
The other impressive effort of the night was Lani Pallister becoming the seventh woman to go under the magic four-minute mark in the 400m freestyle.
With reigning Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus watching on and Pallister’s new coach Dean Boxall urging her to the wall, the 23-year-old recorded a lifetime best of 3:59.72.
“I think I’ve been questioning it for the past week,” said Pallister of trying to get under four minutes. “Dean said it wasn’t about cracking four [minutes], it was just executing the race plan. I could see him and my mum on the last 50, and I did not want to kick my legs whatsoever.
Titmus was also asked about losing her 400m world record to Summer McIntosh last week.
“Obviously it stings a little bit when you get your world record broken, but I know how tough it is to swim that fast,” Titmus said on Nine. “She’s an absolute phenomenon.”
