Il Nuovo Postiglione - Australia's McKeown roars back to retain 100m backstroke gold

McKeown won with an Olympic record time of 57.33sec, fighting back after she had reached the turn in fourth place with her rival Smith in the lead.

But the Australian, who won the 100m and 200m backstroke events at Tokyo, found the burst of power she needed in the second lap as she left the field in her wake.

Katharine Berkoff of the United States took bronze.

The impressive win restores McKeown's status as the dominant backstroker in the sport after Smith beat her world-record time at the US trials in June.

Natalie Coughlin of the USA is the only other swimmer to have won two golds in this event.

McKeown claimed all three backstrokes -– 50m, 100m and 200m –- at the 2023 World Championships.

The win continues a strong Games for the Australian women's team after gold for Ariarne Titmus in the women's 400m freestyle and Mollie O'Callaghan in the 200m freestyle and the team win in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

"You know, the Aussies have had a great meet so far following Arnie and Molly. It's definitely emotional to see my teammates... it's been an awesome few days watching all the Aussies get up and race so I just had to put my best foot forward tonight," said McKeown.

"To have all this atmosphere all that adrenaline and be able to perform like that it's really special to me and I'm happy with have gone so far," she said.

McKeown and Smith will clash again in the 200m backstroke.

Smith's silver is her third after she picked up two and a bronze in Tokyo and she doffed her cap to her rival.

"Ultimately, I think other people's performances are completely out of my control and Kaylee is... one on one, she is an absolutely incredible racer and she knows what to do when it matters, but I'm really proud of myself," said the American.

"I executed my race plan and I left it all in the pool. It was really special".

M.Vacanti--INP