Regan Smith reclaims 100m backstroke world record on night four of U.S. Trials

Regan Smith officially qualified for her second Olympic Games on Tuesday night in Indianapolis at the U.S. Olympic Trials, blasting the world record in the 100m backstroke at 57.13. The swim lowers the previous record held by Australia’s Kaylee McKeown set in October 2023 at 57.33.

Smith grabbed her record back from McKeown after the American set it as a 17-year-old at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. There, she became the first to break 58 seconds at 57.57.

Between July 2019 and May 2024, Smith had been under 58 a total of 16 times, but hadn’t gone faster from when she was just a teenager.

“There were many years that went by after 2019 where I thought I would never do that again,” Smith told reporters at her press conference on Tuesday night. “So that was a long time coming and it took a lot of practicing, improving my confidence with Bob (Bowman) and with Coach Erik (Posegay), and a lot of my teammates, too.

“I knew I had it in me but for a long time, I didn’t, so I’m really, really happy that I finally started to believe in myself. After seeing Gretchen (Walsh) break the world record in the 100 fly on night one, I was so inspired by that. I really wanted to do something special myself.”

2019 was a dream year for Smith, who broke both the 100m and 200m backstroke world records at the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju that summer. She won the 200m World title after a 2:03.35 record in the semis, and led off the 4x100m medley relay team with a 57.57.

Afterwards however, she admitted she struggled living up to those expectations set upon her after that meet. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Smith won bronze in the 100m backstroke after losing her world record weeks earlier to McKeown, and didn’t even make the team in the 200m as the world record holder.

After Tokyo, Smith left her home coach Mike Parratto and Riptide Swim Club to go to college at Stanford University and Coach Greg Meehan, where she won the 2022 World title in the 100m backstroke. Afterwards, she left school to train with Coach Bowman at Arizona State University, and has seen tremendous improvements in her mental game.

She’s a completely different person from where she was five years ago, and the world record means a little bit more after the struggles she went through.

“The feeling of getting it tonight versus getting it five years ago was so different,” Smith said Tuesday. “I can’t really pinpoint exactly what was different about each race five years ago and then tonight but I was just psyched out of my mind. It was great.”

“I’ve learned a lot over these five years, and I’ve had a lot of lows, in backstroke, in particular. But I think it’s taught me a lot and it’s helped me definitely strengthen things on the mental side. Because I think I’ve always had it physically, but for a long time, I didn’t have it mentally. But I’ve worked really, really hard with Bob and a lot of my teammates and I’ve learned a lot from all of them, and I think that’s what really culminated in a great swim tonight.”

Out in 27.94 and back in 29.19, Smith will head into Paris as the defending bronze medalist, while McKeown is looking to be the second woman to successfully defend the Olympic gold medal in that event after Natalie Coughlin won back to back in 2004 and 2008.

Only five women have broken 58 seconds in the 100m backstroke, and all five are still active and will be in Paris. Alongside Smith, 23-year-old Katharine Berkoff grabbed the second spot for the Americans on Tuesday at 57.91, as she was 57.83 in Monday’s semi-finals.

Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan (57.88) and Canada’s Kylie Masse (57.94) are the other two to break 58 this year. Although O’Callaghan has alluded to dropping this event from her Paris programme, this 100m backstroke will be one of the can’t miss races at the Games in six weeks.

In Tokyo three years ago, McKeown won gold ahead of Masse and Smith, and all three medallists will meet again in Paris where it may take a world record to win gold.

“I’d love to (go faster),” Smith said Tuesday. “I think 56 is a possibility, for sure. Whether it’s me or one of my competitors, who knows? I’m not going to sell myself short, absolutely not. That was an amazing race but it wasn’t a perfect race. I know there’s things that I can clean up and do better, and I’m going to work towards that.”

Smith will be competing in second Olympics in six weeks in the French capital. She still has the 200m butterfly final on Thursday and the 200m backstroke on Friday at these Olympic Trials.