Aussie medal rush at Youth Olympics

RISING Australian swimming star Kaylee McKeown and Gold Coaster Chelsea Hodges and Michaela Ryan have each won two medals on the second day of the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.

McKeown finished second behind Russian Daria Vaskina in the 100m backstroke in a time of 1min 00.58sec.

Less than five minutes after the medals ceremony, McKeown was back in the water to claim another second-placed finish along with Hodges, Ryan and freestyler Abbey Webb in the 4x100m medley relay.

The Australians led for much of the final, only to be pipped by 0.28sec by China, who won gold in 4:05.18. “It was such a great experience racing alongside these girls,” McKeown said. “It’s a challenge to take on but we managed to do our best to get back up.” Hodges was second in the women’s 50m breaststroke and 16-year-old Ryan claimed bronze in the 200m butterfly after sneaking into the final in lane one. In other action, Australians Mark Nicolaidis and James Takken made a winning start to their men’s beach volleyball campaign with a 2-1 win over a team from the host nation.

The men’s Hockey 5s beat Bangladesh 4-3, while the women’s team went down 4-3 to Namibia.