Olympics | Australia's McKeown wins women's 200m backstroke gold at Paris Games

Kaylee McKeown of Australia competes during the women's 200m backstroke final of swimming at Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on Aug. 2, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)

PARIS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian world record holder and defending champion Kaylee McKeown secured her fifth Olympic gold medal by winning the women's 200m backstroke final on Friday.

McKeown produced a stunning burst of speed in the final 50 meters to finish in an Olympic record time of 2 minutes, 3.73 seconds, more than half a second ahead of American Regan Smith, who took silver.

"Not in a million years did I imagine this," McKeown said. "I couldn't ask for much more, to be honest with you."

Canadian Kylie Masse claimed bronze, 1.84 seconds behind McKeown.

The 23-year-old from Queensland is the first Australian to win four individual Olympic gold medals in any event.

She is also the first female swimmer to successfully defend Olympic 100m and 200m backstroke titles. Her Games gold medal haul also includes the 4x100m medley relay title at Tokyo 2020.

McKeown admitted that she was almost overcome by nerves in the final and feared she may have expended too much energy early.

"I probably took my race out too hard," she said. "I was a little nervous going out tonight. I'm not one who gets overly nervous, probably more anxious than anything, so I went out hard and held on for dear life."

McKeown's time surpassed the previous Olympic record of 2:04.06 set by American Missy Franklin at London 2012.