Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment. World Championships, Day Six Semifinals: Regan Smith, Kaylee McKeown Go 2-3 in 200 Back Qualifying Behind Peng Xuwei For the first time in three women’s backstroke finals at this meet, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown and the United States’ Regan Smith will not swim in adjacent lanes. McKeown has already earned gold medals in the 100 back and 50 back, and she will be seeking a sweep of all three events in one stroke that no swimmer has ever achieved at the World Championships. Smith, however, will be hoping to secure the upset and her second world title in the 200 back after a dominant win four years ago in Gwangju. However, it was Peng Xuwei putting up the top time in semifinals, with the 20-year-old pulling ahead in the first heat to win in 2:07.40. Peng will be hoping for a medal in the final but Smith and McKeown surely have plenty left in the tank. The duo cruised to the second and third-best times, respectively. Smith won the second semifinal heat in 2:07.52, just ahead of McKeown’s 2:07.89. Expect much quicker times from this duo in the final, with McKeown setting the world record of 2:03.14 earlier this year while Smith went 2:03.80 at U.S. Nationals. Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan took fourth in 2:08.32, followed by Canada’s Kylie Masse in 2:08.51. Masse was the Olympic silver medalist in this event, but she has struggled at this meet, ending up fourth in both the 50 and 100-meter races. Shanahan, meanwhile, was among the three swimmers disqualified in the first semifinal heat of the 200 IM, along with McKeown, so this will be Shanahan’s first final of the week. Poland’s Laura Bernat, 17, collected the fifth seed in 2:08.96 while a second swimmer from both the United States and Australia got in, with American Rhyan White taking seventh (2:09.13) and Aussie Jenna Forrester eighth (2:09.74). White is the third-fastest swimmer in the world this year at 2:05.77, and if she can repeat that time, she is likely to reach the podium. That eighth-place time was actually slightly slower than what it took to qualify for the final in the 200 back at U.S. Nationals last month, where the cutoff was 2:09.69. That impressive American field included five swimmers who all swam faster than the top qualifying mark here: in addition to Smith and White, the trio of Claire Curzan, Kennedy Noble and Phoebe Bacon all swam 2:06s in Indianapolis. This event is currently one of the weakest internationally, with the notable exceptions of the two swimmers out ahead of the world, McKeown and Smith.
