Kathleen Baker (born February 28, 1997) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in freestyle and backstroke events. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a silver medal in the individual 100-meter backstroke. She is the current world-record holder in 100 meter backstroke, set on July 28, 2018 in 58.00 at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine, CA. Baker is also the current world-record holder in the 4x100 meter medley relay with Lilly King, Kelsi Worrell, and Simone Manuel.
Baker attended Forsyth Country Day School until the tenth grade and then was home-schooled, so it would be easy to travel back and forth between Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina to swim and train with SwimMAC Carolina. Her mother swam for the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, and her older sister, Rachel, currently swims for Washington and Lee University.