Regan Smith continues to add medals to her collection.
The Lakeville product pulled in two more silvers at the World Championships on Thursday in Singapore.
Smith finished behind only Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who won the 200-meter butterfly by three full seconds with a time of 2 minutes, 1.99 seconds, just 14 hundredths off the world record pace.
“Going into tonight, my coach and I, our big goal was to break that world record. It’s what I’ve been training for,” McIntosh told reporters. “To see that I missed it by that little, and I know that I messed up the last 15 meters of my race… Overall, happy with the time and a (personal best), but I didn’t reach my goal tonight. Happy with the gold, happy with the win, just going to keep pushing forward.”
Australian Kaylee McKeown, who won the 100-meter backstroke earlier in the week, scratched the 50 meter – in which she’s the world record holder – from her program pre-meet, cracking the door open further for another winner in that event.
Katharine Berkoff seized the opportunity, setting a new American record with a 27.08 seconds to win the gold. That was just 18 hundredths clear of Smith
“I’m super excited,” Berkoff told reporters. “It’s been a goal of mine for a long time, and it’s great to finally achieve that.
Smith now has three silvers at the championships after also taking second in the 100-meter backstroke and completing a difficult double in Thursday’s session.
“Doubles are never easy, but I’m grateful that it was just a 50m backstroke, not 100m or 200m,” Smith told reporters. “And the ready room for the 50m is really fun. There are a lot of great girls in there and I love swimming with Katharine, so they gave me the energy to do what I needed to do. And I’m just excited to hear the anthem tonight.”
Individually, Smith will also compete in the 200-meter backstroke this week.
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