Hunter becomes hunted as McKeown braces for charging Smith

PARIS : Kaylee McKeown has ruled women's backstroke with an iron fist since dominating the Tokyo Olympics but a young American with a chip on her shoulder could derail the Australian's bid for greatness at Paris.

Regan Smith, a 22-year-old from Minnesota, will be by far the biggest threat to McKeown's quest to become the first female backstroker to achieve the Olympic "double-double" by successfully defending her 100 and 200 metres titles at La Defense Arena.

Rejuvenated under coach Bob Bowman, the man who developed Michael Phelps into a gold medal machine, Smith took McKeown's 100 metres world record at U.S. Olympic trials with a stunning swim of 57.13 seconds.

Coming weeks before Paris and right after McKeown fell just short of her former world record of 57.33 at Australia's trials, it was a powerful statement from a swimmer once seen as the United States' "next big thing".

It also marked Smith's return to the top of the world timesheets.

As a 17-year-old sensation, she had previously set the 100m and 200m world records during a stellar 2019 World Championships.

The early success proved a burden on Smith who gradually became crippled with self-doubt as her performance waned.

Though taking 100m bronze behind McKeown at the Tokyo Olympics, she failed to qualify for the 200m backstroke as world champion.

"I've always had like a God-given natural ability to swim backstroke but I just never believed in myself ever and that's always going to be a work-in-progress," she said last month.

Getting one up on McKeown, the 200m world record holder, will be the ultimate test of her self-belief.

While Smith is highly strung, 23-year-old McKeown has been a cold-blooded predator in the pool.

She mourned the death of her father a year before her