Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown is being fuelled by a “completely unfair” disqualification which robbed her of a likely medal at the world championships.
McKeown and Australian officials are labelling her disqualification from the 200m individual medley as unjust.
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McKeown, a potential gold medallist in the event, was punted when judges ruled a stroke violation in her transition from backstroke to breaststroke in a semi-final on Sunday night.
“I had a bit of a cry,” McKeown said after her 100m backstroke heat swim on Monday in Fukuoka.
“A bit of an emotional rollercoaster but it’s sport and it’s what happens in sport.
“Unfortunately some people just get the bad hand and I got dealt that bad hand.
“It’s just a matter of trying to flip it into a positive and just give the big ‘f u’ kind of thing.
“We have footage and other angles that say otherwise to what the officials saw.
“I thought it was completely unfair.”
Swimming Australia’s protest, led by head coach Rohan Taylor, was rejected.
“I disagree, 100 per cent,” Taylor said of the verdict.
McKeown said her medley disappointment added to her motivation for further races, including the 100m backstroke.
The world record holder in the event, McKeown posted 58.90 seconds to be second-quickest qualifer for the semi-finals behind American Regan Smith (58.47) with Australia’s Madi Wilson (1:00.04) the 10th fastest.
“It has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster from last night to this morning,” McKeown said.
“It probably hit me more this morning but it’s good to come out and blow the cobwebs off.”
Australian Brad Woodward advanced to the men’s 100m backstroke semi-finals, clocking 53.72 in his heat, but Isaac Cooper (53.95) missed qualifying by one hundredth of a second.
Abbey Harkin progressed to the women’s 100m breaststroke semis – she was ranked 15th through the heats in a time of 1:06.86.
In the men’s 200m freestyle, Alexander Graham (1:46.58, 12th ranked) booked a semi-final slot but Kai Taylor (1:46.94, 20th) failed to advance.
And in the women’s 1500m freestyle, Lani Pallister (15:58.11) was third-quickest into Tuesday night’s final but Dolphins teammate Moesha Johnson (16:05.01) was ranked ninth and will miss the medal race.
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