Regan Smith and her family plan for a busy week

Lakeville swimmer’s first Paris Olympic race is Monday morning

Ironically, Regan Smith’s family often will be closer to the Olympic swimming facility in Paris than she is.

The family has lined up accommodations across the street from the aquatics center while Regan will be coming from the Athletes’ Village, which could be as much as an hour away via shuttle. The family is prepared to deal with the separation.

“My wife and I love Paris. We’ve been there several times,” said Paul Smith, Regan’s father. “But we understand Regan is on a business trip.”

Regan, 22, the Lakeville native who is one of the world’s best swimmers, is in the business of pursuing gold medals at the Paris Olympics. After earning two silver medals and a bronze in Tokyo in 2021, she is a contender for gold in several events – including the women’s 100-meter backstroke, where she is the current world record holder, and the 200 backstroke, where she has held the world record.

Smith’s 2024 Olympic journey begins very early Monday (July 29), Minnesota time. Preliminaries for the women’s 100 backstroke start at 4 a.m., with the semifinals at a more manageable 2 p.m. The final will by 1:56 p.m. Central Daylight Time on Tuesday, July 30.

Spectators could not attend the Tokyo Olympics because of the lingering fallout from COVID-19. There are no such restrictions this year, but in Paris the Smith cheering contingent will be limited to Paul, his wife Bonnie, and Regan’s mother Kristi.

“To be honest, Regan is probably relieved about that,” Paul said. “While it would be great to have 80 people in the stands cheering you on, she’s going to be so busy it would be tough to spend any time with them, and I think that would bother her.”

Besides, Paul said, the best vantage point for watching Olympic swimming probably is in front of a television as rights-holder NBC rolls out all its technology for covering the sport. He said NBC has floated the idea of having him wear a heart monitor during his daughter’s races.

It will be a busy week for Regan as she could compete as many as seven days in a row, depending on whether she swims on a U.S. relay. She has qualified in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly. Relay possibilities include the mixed event and the women’s 4x100 medley. Smith swam on a U.S. medley relay that set a world record at the 2019 world championships; that record still stands.

“It’s going to be a grind,” Paul Smith said of his daughter’s Olympic schedule.

One of the most highly anticipated swimming races of the 2024 Olympics is the women’s 100 backstroke final. Smith and Kaylee McKeown of Australia, the 2021 Olympic gold medalist, both have held the world record since 2019. Smith set a record with a 57.57-second split in the first leg of the medley relay at the 2019 world championships. McKeown bettered it about two years later, and by 2023 lowered the mark to 57.33. Smith regained the record with a 57.13 time in the 100 backstroke semifinals at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.

Swimming experts have said it might take a time below 57.00 to win the gold, and Smith said at the trials she believes she has that in her.

In the 200 backstroke, McKeown has held the record of 2 minutes, 3.14 seconds for more than a year (she broke a record Smith set in 2019). McKeown is not swimming the 200 butterfly, but Smith will go against 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh, already a four-time gold medalist at the world championships.

At the U.S. trials, Smith talked about how she used to get in her own way mentally, and what she did to change that. “I think I’ve always had 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, I think,” she said then.

“She’s a much different person at 22 than she was at 20,” Paul Smith said. “She went to the worlds in Budapest in 2022 and didn’t race the way she wanted. After the worlds, she looked at us and said, ‘Something has to change.’

“We said, ‘It’s your life, your career. Do what you want to do.’”

Regan left Stanford University, where she competed for one year and won an NCAA championship in the 200-yard backstroke. She turned pro, joining a training group in Tempe, Arizona, led by Bob Bowman, perhaps best known the coach of 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Bowman’s program has since relocated to Austin, Texas, and Smith is following him there.

Paul Smith said his daughter flourished in the company of other pros with goals similar to hers. He’s anxious to see how it translates to Olympic competition.

“We’re hoping for at least one gold medal,” Paul said.

Regan Smith block party

A block party and pep rally supporting Regan Smith will be 5-7 a.m. Monday, July 29, at Antlers Park in Lakeville. The event will take place while Smith is competing in the Olympic women’s 100-backstroke preliminaries.

It will feature pep bands, cheer squads and swimming teams from Lakeville North and Lakeville South high schools. Lakeville mayor Luke Hellier and Paralympic athlete and Lakeville resident Josh Cinnamo are scheduled to attend. KARE-11 will broadcast from the block party during its “Sunrise” show.

The event is open to the public. Breakfast food and coffee will be available for purchase.

Mike Shaughnessy can be reached at mike.shaughnessy@apgecm.com.