Regan Smith delivered another sensational swim in France on Friday.
Regan Smith of United States, poses with her silver medal following the women’s 200-meter backstroke final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
The Lakeville native claimed second in the 200-meter backstroke final with a time of 2 minutes, 4.26 seconds — besting her time at Olympic Trials last month by nearly a second and the time she swam at the 2023 World Championships by seven-tenths of a second.
It was another great swim in what has been an elite-level program for Smith in these Olympics. She now owns six Olympic medals for her career, three of which have come in these Games. All three of those are silver.
The 22 year old finished second in each of her three individual events. In each of the backstrokes, she was behind only Australian Kaylee McKeown, who has now swept the backstroke events in consecutive Olympics, perhaps cementing her as the greatest women’s backstroker in history.
Smith probably belongs in the top five on any such list. She has pushed McKeown every step of the way. Never was that more true than Friday, when Smith had the lead by 18 one-hundredths at the 150-meter mark. But McKeown is known for her closes, and she showed why in the final. She reeled in Smith over the first 25 meters of the final length of the pool, and she closed it out from there.
McKeown set a new Olympic record with a time of 2 minutes, 3.73 seconds — a half second clear of Smith. Smith’s time was 1.3 seconds faster than the third-place finisher, Kylie Masse of Canada.
McKeown does consistently have the edge over Smith in big-time finals, but the gaps are so small. It’s a historic era in which fans get to watch two of the best the discipline has ever seen go stroke for stroke.
And for someone like Smith, who has evolved as a competitor to focus more on her process and the enjoyment of competition than the end result, there’s joy in that.
Smith told reporters after finishing second in the 200 fly — another excellent swim in which she set a personal record in the event — that “if this had happened to me (in Tokyo) three years ago, I would have been so unbelievably gutted.”
“It would have really affected my mental health for a long time,” Smith said. “And it did. I was struggling after Tokyo for a really long time.”
But she has gained more experience in sport and life since then. She’s a more balanced individual who’s no longer defined by her athletic achievements — the list of which is robust. But Smith said she isn’t worried about her medal count or what color those medals may be.
She’s focused on being her best, fastest self in the pool. The last couple days, she has been just that.
“And to be honest with you, I don’t want to think about what it means to win gold versus silver, because I think when you get so wrapped up in that, then you’re never going to be happy,” she explained. “When you do win the gold, it’s like, ‘OK, well what’s after that?’ I just want to be proud of myself regardless. And I know that sounds like such a cliché answer, but it’s true.”
Smith swam the backstroke leg of the mixed medley relay for the United States in prelims early Friday. The U.S. cruised to the top time. Her inclusion in the prelims likely means Smith won’t be asked to swim the backstroke leg in the final (America may opt to use male swimmer Ryan Murphy and employ women for two other strokes), but Smith would also get any medal won by the U.S. in the the relay whether she swims in the final or not.
That final is set for 2:58 p.m. CDT on Saturday.
As the country’s top women’s backstroker, Smith will almost certainly swim in the final of the 4×100 women’s medley relay at 12:32 p.m. CDT on Sunday.
Smith told reporters Thursday she’s going to “keep fighting like hell” throughout the remainder of the Olympics to continue to do her best.
“If I walk away as a gold medalist in a relay or an individual event, excellent,” she said.
But whether or not that comes to fruition, “I’m going to be proud of myself no matter what, as long as I do the races I know that I’m capable of.”
Gold medalist Kaylee McKeown, centre, of Australia, stands with silver medalist Regan Smith, left, of United States, and bronze medalist Kylie Masse of Canada, for a selfie following the women’s 200-meter backstroke final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
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