Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown withdrew from the upcoming Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacific Championships due to mononucleosis.
McKeown struggled with fatigue, loss of breath and loss of appetite for several months.
“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” she said in a Swimming Australia press release. “What I thought a few months ago was the flu has turned out to be my body fighting glandular fever.
“I was sick going into trials, and I just have not got better, and I am worried about pushing myself so hard that I end up with chronic fatigue.
“It was a hard decision to make, but it was the right one.”
McKeown, 24, swept the 100m and 200m backstroke golds at the last two Olympics, plus is the world record holder in the 50m and 200m backstrokes.
She is one of two swimmers to sweep the 100m and 200m back golds at two Olympics. German Roland Matthes did so on the men’s side at the 1968 and 1972 Games.
McKeown’s total Olympic gold medals (five, including in the Tokyo women’s 4x100m medley relay) and total Olympic medals (nine) have been bettered by only one athlete in Australian history across all sports: swimming teammate Emma McKeon, who retired after Paris 2024.
In October 2023, McKeown became the second swimmer to hold all three backstroke world records (50m, 100m, 200m) simultaneously after American Lenny Krayzelburg in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Then American Regan Smith broke the 100m back world record at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
Pan Pacs from Aug. 12-15 in Irvine, California, mark the biggest international meet of 2026 for swimmers outside of Europe.
Before her withdrawal, McKeown was set to resume her rivalry at Pan Pacs with Smith, the 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the 100m and 200m backs.
