As ever, McKeown had her father Sholto on her mind as she reeled in Smith and bronze winner Katharine Berkoff during a typically furious final lap.
Australian dominator Kaylee McKeown crushed Regan Smith to extend her reign over the 100 metres backstroke before Irish trailblazer Daniel Wiffen became his nation's first man to win an Olympic swimming medal with 800m freestyle gold on Tuesday.
The previous long course best of 57.57 was set by US swimmer Regan Smith at the 2019 World Championships.
The bubbly 23-year-old Alexa Leary was in a coma in hospital in 2021 after sustaining permanent brain and leg injuries in a high-speed bike crash that left her with a punctured lung and multiple broken bones.
Images from the Olympics swimming action at the La Defense Arena, Paris, on Friday.
Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky added to the United States' gold medal haul at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday while Australia's sensational run continued with Kaylee McKeown winning the 200m backstroke for their seventh gold in the pool.
Images from the Olympics swimming action at the La Defense Arena, Paris, on Saturday.
Australia's Kyle Chalmers set a blistering pace towards the end to win gold in the blue riband men's 100 metres freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships.
Sarah Sjoestroem cruised to her fifth consecutive World Aquatics Championships title in the women's 50 metres butterfly event on Saturday.
Olympic champion Katie Ledecky stormed to a fifth straight 800m freestyle title at the swimming World Championships in Budapest on Friday while home favourite Kristof Milak added to his 200m butterfly crown with victory in the 100m butterfly.
Here's what you need to know about the Tokyo Games
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