Smith sets backstroke world record at US Olympic Trials

INDIANAPOLIS: Regan Smith set the 100m backstroke world record at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis on Tuesday (Jun 18), touching the wall first in 57.13 to shave 0.2 seconds off Australian Kaylee McKeown's previous mark.

With just over a month to go before the Games, Smith's win in the final sealed her place on the US team and sets up a Paris showdown with McKeown, who swam 57.33 in Hungary last year.

"I'm so proud of myself," Smith said amid cheers from thousands of fans at Lucas Oil Stadium.

"Backstroke is hard for me sometimes but to fight back like this and get that back means a lot."

Katharine Berkoff was second with a time of 57.91.

Smith, a three-time Olympic medallist who took bronze in the event at the Tokyo Games, still has two more events to contest at the trials and said she would not get too carried away celebrating her world record.

"We're going to take a couple minutes here to be really proud of what we accomplished and then it's back to work," she said.

"I've got more things that I want to accomplish this week."

Smith previously set the mark at the 2019 world championships in South Korea but said she was not sure she would ever reach those heights again.

"There were many years that went by after 2019 where I thought that I would never do that ever again," the 22-year-old told reporters.

"That was a long time coming and it took a lot of practising and improving my confidence."

With help from a sports psychologist, Smith is now brimming with confidence and headed to Paris where she thinks the record could be broken again.

"I think 56 is a possibility for sure, whether it's me or whether it's one of my competitors, who knows.

"But I'm not going to sell myself short. That was an amazing race but it wasn't a perfect