Jaclyn Barclay

Teenager Jaclyn Barclay is one of Australia’s “baby backstrokers,” the exciting generation of youngsters rising in the shadow of Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown.

Jaclyn shocked the swimming world the 2024 World Aquatic Championships in Doha, where she was supposed to be just getting a taste of international competition.

With Kaylee skipping the meet, young guns such as Jaclyn and West Australian Iona Anderson stepped up.
Iona took silver in the 100m backstroke, with Jaclyn, still just 17, a fingernail off the podium in fourth. A couple of nights later she claimed silver in the 200m backstroke, setting a personal best time of 2:07:03.

Jaclyn, who grew up in Brisbane and swims out of the St Peters Western club, had announced her arrival on the scene only a few months before with a triumphant performance at the 2023 World Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya, Israel.

There she won gold in the women’s 100m backstroke, bronze in the 50m backstroke and contributed to a gold medal in the women’s 4x100m medley relay and silver in the mixed 4x100m medley relay. She had earlier represented Australia at the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, placing fourth in the 100m backstroke and sixth in the 200m backstroke.

In late 2023, Jaclyn unleashed a phenomenal swim in the 200m backstroke at the Queensland Championships, shattering her personal best time to claim victory over one of the world’s best. She recorded a time of 2:08.76, beating Mollie O’Callaghan (2:10.39) and knocking nearly three seconds off her previous PB of 2:11.50.

In 2024, Jaclyn made her Olympic debut in Paris as the youngest member of the Australian swim team. Racing in the women's 200m backstroke, the 17-year-old finished 17th with a time of 2:10.53.