July 10 (Reuters) – Kaylee McKeown has withdrawn from this year’s Pan Pacific Championships and Commonwealth Games due to medical issues, saying she has struggled with fatigue, shortness of breath and a loss of appetite for several months.
The 24-year-old Australian has won a record 10 individual backstroke titles across the Olympic Games and World Aquatics Championships.
She is the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-metre and 200m backstroke and holds the world record in the long-course 50m backstroke, and the long-course and short-course 200m backstroke.
“I am gutted to medically withdraw,” she said in a statement to Swimming Australia on Friday. “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.”
In a separate Instagram post, McKeown said she wants to focus on her recovery and be ready for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“Unfortunately I’ve had to pull the pin on Comm Games and Pan Pacs,” she said. “Not exactly ideal, but LA28 is the big picture and I’d rather have myself sorted by then. So, for now, I’ll be M.I.A.”
McKeown has won four Commonwealth Games gold medals, all of them in Birmingham in 2022.
The Pan Pacific championships run from August 12 to 15 in Irvine, California. The Commonwealth Games begin in Glasgow from July 23 and run through August 2.
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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