Taylor McKeown

Fast Facts

Sport: Swimming
Olympic History: Rio 2016
Highlights: Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Championships medallist
Year Born: 1995
State Born: QLD

About Taylor

Queensland local Taylor McKeown started competitive swimming at nine-years-old. At 15, she burst onto the swimming scene after taking home the national title in the 100m breaststroke and 200m breaststroke. 

Making her Commonwealth Games debut in Glasgow in 2014, Taylor did not disappoint. She progressed through to the 200m breaststroke final as the third fastest qualifier before claiming gold ahead of Australian teammate Sally Hunter with a time of 2:22.36.

She missed the final of the 100m breaststroke by just 0.08 seconds at the 2015 World Championships, finishing ninth. She also missed the final of the 200m breaststroke by just over a second after also making the semi-finals, however finished the event strong taking home a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. 

At the 2016 Australian Championships, Taylor finished second behind Georgia Bohl in the 100m breaststroke and then swam an exceptional 200m breaststroke to win gold and qualify for a second event at the 2016 Games.

Competing at her first ever Olympic Games, Taylor claimed a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay. The quartet of Emily Seebohm, Taylor McKeown, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell combined to clock a time of 3:55.00 to finish 

In her individual events, McKeown finished fifth in the 200m breaststroke final. She failed to make the final in the 100m breaststroke, placing fifth in her semi-final and 11th overall.  

After suffering from a knee injury in 2018, Taylor took some time away from the sport. She made a strong return to competition in 2019 when she won the 200m breaststroke at the Australian Trials, narrowly missing the qualifying time for the 2019 FINA World Championships.