Budapest 2024, Day 2 Finals: Regan Smith Swims Third-Fastest Time Ever For 100 Backstroke Gold
For the past two years of long course international competitions, Regan Smith has performed admirably in the backstroke events, only to come out on the receiving end of Kaylee McKeown’s continued winning in the events. Smith earned silver over 50, 100 and 200 meters at the 2023 World Championships and then finished in the same position in the 100 and 200 at the Paris Olympics.
But with McKeown skipping the fall racing season, Smith has exerted her dominance in backstroke during the World Cup, lowering McKeown’s short course world records in the 100 and 200 at the final stop in Singapore, and now she has earned the first short course world title of her career.
In the first race of night two at the Short Course World Championships, Smith never trailed in the women’s 100 backstroke final, her powerful underwater kicks propelling her ahead of the field on each turn. Smith finished in 54.55, about four tenths clear of American teammate Katharine Berkoff. Smith could not take down her world record of 54.27, but after swimming a half-second off world-record pace through the 75-meter mark, she came home in 14.03 to secure the win.
Her time was the third-fastest ever, behind two of her own performances from the World Cup circuit. Smith’s time eclipsed the 54.56 that McKeown set as the previous world record in September. She also broke the championship record of 55.03 set by Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu 10 years ago in Doha. Smith won the title in the pool in which she made her senior-level international debut as a 15-year-old at the 2017 World Championships, a meet in which she placed eighth in the 200 back.
This is Smith’s first appearance at the Short Course World Championships, but she has previously captured a pair of individual long course world titles, in the 200 back in 2019 and the 100 back in 2022. She has captured eight Olympic medals in her career, including three individual silvers plus two relay gold at the recent Paris Games.
Berkoff finished with silver in 54.93, making her the fifth-fastest woman ever behind Smith, McKeown, Australia’s Minna Atherton and the United States’ Gretchen Walsh. The medal is the fifth American gold out of seven finals contested thus far, following wins from Kate Douglass and Shaine Casas in Tuesday’s 200 IM and world-record-setting performances from both the U.S. women and men in the 400 freestyle relay. The 1-2 finish for Smith and Berkoff is the Americans’ second after Douglass and Alex Walsh went 1-2 in the 200 IM.
Canada’s Ingrid Wilm won bronze in 55.75, three tenths ahead of Australia’s Iona Anderson (56.08) and neutral athlete Anastasia Shkurdai (56.11). Wilm’s veteran Canadian teammate Kylie Masse placed sixth in 56.21. Wilm’s medal is here second consecutive bronze at Short Course Worlds, and she also took bronze as part of the Canadian women’s 400 free relay Thursday.
