U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Regan Smith Slips Under 58 to Lead Swift 100 Backstroke Prelims

Regan Smith -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Regan Smith Slips Under 58 to Lead Swift 100 Backstroke Prelims

The remarkable depth in U.S. women’s backstroke was on display Monday morning as 10 swimmers dipped under the 1:00 barrier and four were under 59. But the clear star of the event is Regan Smith, the 2022 world champion in the event who took down her own American record in the event last month with a time of 57.51, reinforcing her status as the second-fastest swimmer in history.

Smith returned to the pool 16 hours after possibly the best third-place swim in Olympic Trials history. She finished just a tenth away from an Olympic team spot in the 100 butterfly, an event considered her fourth-best, and she tied the time that had been the American record entering the meet. The only catch was that Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske were even more impressive. Afterward, Smith wrote on Instagram, “Never have I ever been SO proud of a third place finish.”

In each of Smith’s remaining events in Indianapolis, the backstrokes plus the 200 butterfly, she enters as heavy favorite, and in prelims, she put forth a controlled but dominant performance, going out in 28.28 and returning in 29.65 on the way to a time of 57.93. Only Kaylee McKeown, the Aussie who beat Smith for gold at the Tokyo Olympics and at last year’s World Championships, has beaten that time this year. Given Smith’s form so far this week, a run at the world record, the 57.33 that McKeown set last year, is well within the realm of possibility.

Meanwhile, Katharine Berkoff has put herself in position for a run at an Olympic berth as she clocked 58.09 in prelims, making her the No. 4 swimmer in the world this year behind McKeown, Smith and Canada’s Kylie Masse (57.94). Berkoff was just off her best time of 58.01, a swim which yielded her bronze at last year’s Worlds and ranks No. 5 all-time.

There were two new entrants into the sub-58 club in the heats as Kennedy Noble took third in 58.55 and Josephine Fuller clocked 58.10 for fourth. Next up was a quartet of veterans, with Isabelle Stadden (59.10), Rhyan White (59.23), Claire Curzan (59.43) and Phoebe Bacon (59.61) all securing passages into the semis. Curzan was the winner of all three backstroke events at February’s World Championships while White joined Smith as the U.S. representative in this event at the last Olympics.

Teenagers Leah Shackley (59.63) and Teagan O’Dell were the other sub-1:00 performers, while Charlotte Crush (1:00.02) came painfully close to dipping under the barrier for the first time in her career after she entered wit ha time of 1:00.07. The rest of the semifinalists were Erika Pelaez (1:00.11), Maggie Wanezek (1:00.33), Caroline Bentz (1:00.47), Emma Kern (1:00.54) and Rylee Erisman (1:00.71).

That barely locked out Ali Pfaff (1:00.77) and Bella Sims (1:00.88), an Olympian in Tokyo who has struggled this week in Indianapolis, failing to advance out of the prelims in the 200 and 400 free after she was a World Championships finalist in both events last year. She swam a best time in the backstroke event here but again fell painfully short of an evening swim.

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MaryHall

9 days ago

Mollie O’Callaghan is also faster than Berkoff this year – 57 at AUS trials – though I don’t know if she’s swimming it in Paris
Is that photo really Regan Smith? It looks like one of the Texas butterfliers