Emma McKeon makes swimming history as Aussies break 4x100m world record

Emma McKeon has become the first female swimmer in history to record a sub-50 second 100m split as Australia broke the 4x100m relay world record at the world short course championships in Melbourne on Tuesday night. Already Australia's most successful Olympian, McKeon continues to go where no female swimmer has gone before.

Entering the water with the Aussies in third place and a second behind the Americans, the 28-year-old McKeon overhauled the field to secure the gold medal for her country. McKeon's split of 49.96 seconds is the first time a female swimmer has ever gone below 50 seconds in the event, helping Australia win the short course title for the first time.

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"I always put my best races together in a relay - I love the team event," said 11-time Olympic medallist McKeon. "It's pretty cool (to go sub-50) - there's some incredible short course who have been racing years before me.

"I think Cate (Campbell) has got our world record so there's high calibre there so it's pretty cool to be doing 49 in a relay. It wasn't something I was thinking about, it was just about touching first.

"It's extra special doing it in front of a home crowd. It's great for the sport."

Australia finished in three minutes, 25.43 seconds as the USA (3:26.29) and Canada (3:28.06) rounded out the podium. Australia and the USA both eclipsed the previous world record of 3.26.53, set by the Dutch in 2016.

Teenager Mollie O'Callaghan was backing up after setting the fastest time of the 100m backstroke semi-finals and was surprisingly off the pace in the opening leg. Replacing heat swimmer Leah Neale, O'Callaghan opened the relay with a time of 52.19 before Madi Wilson (51.28) and Meg Harris (52.00) made up ground for McKeon to bring it home.

"I wanted to try my best and do what I could do to try and touch the wall and give the girls a good lead," 18-year-old O'Callaghan said. "But at the end of the day it's a team effort and we all did pretty f***ing amazing."

As well as their gold medals, the Australian women also collected $37,000 for breaking the world record. There is a prize money pool of $3 million on offer at the event in Melbourne.

Lani Pallister wins gold after Chinese rival's no-show

Elsewhere, the Aussie men's 4x100m relay team finished second as winners Italy also set a new world record. Alessandro Miressi, Paolo Conte Bonin, Leonardo Deplano and Thoma Ceccon outpaced Australia to set a new mark of 3:02.75, bettering the previous best of 3:03.03 held by the United States since 2018.

And Australia's Lani Pallister claimed the women's 400m freestyle title after Chinese defending champion and world record holder Li Bingjie failed to show up. Li, who was the hot favourite, reportedly has a high fever and missed the heats, as did several other Chinese swimmers, including rising medley star Yu Yiting.

Li shattered Ariarne Titmus' short course record at her national championships in October, clocking 3mins 51.30secs. In her absence, Pallister beat out New Zealand's Erika Fairweather to touch in a personal best time of 3:55.04.

"It's a dream come true," said Pallister. "My parents are in the stands and winning this first medal in front of a home crowd in Australia is special."

with agencies

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