MINNEAPOLIS — Two of the greatest female backstroke swimmers will face off twice at the Paris Olympics seeking gold, world records and, for Lakeville native Regan Smith, the reclaiming of a crown.
Smith, 22, and Australia's Kaylee McKeown, 23, are so far ahead in the women's backstroke events that an otherwise stellar field of swimmers is almost an afterthought. The women will swim the 100- and the 200-meter backstroke, their first head-to-head competition in both events at the Olympics.
Both women come to the Olympics primed for the races. Each has held the world record in the events. Smith captured them first in 2019 but struggled with the pressure and a training regimen that wasn't a good fit. McKeown then lowered times and claimed the records, and she won both events at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 world championships.
"Regan sat back and watched Kaylee earn the G.O.A.T. title," said Smith's father, Paul Smith, of Lakeville. "I'm sure that annoys the hell out of her."
Things have changed, and by all accounts Smith arrives in Paris as a bolder, fitter athlete. She snatched back the 100-meter backstroke world record at the U.S. Olympic trials last month in Indianapolis with a 57.13, two-tenths of a second lower than McKeown's 57.33 set in 2023.
"I have to hand it to her," Smith said of McKeown in an interview before the trials. "I haven't beaten her in three years."
Asked to handicap the races, Olympic gold medalist and NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines and Paul Smith said the same thing of the 100 back: a coin toss.
"One of them is going to win by half a finger," Gaines said. Regan Smith is better off the start and McKeown is the stronger finisher, but neither has weaknesses, he said.
The women swim each race three times: preliminary heats, semifinals and finals. Gaines said he expects the world record to fall in the semifinals, dropping below 57.00.
As for the 200 backstroke, Gaines considers McKeown the favorite while Paul Smith said it would be especially sweet for his daughter to win that race because of her complicated history with it.
In 2021, despite being the world record holder, Smith didn't qualify to swim the 200 back in the Tokyo Olympics, finishing third at the U.S. trials.
"I think there's a chip on her shoulder about that," Paul Smith said.
McKeown recently swam a 2:03.30 at the Australian trials, just missing her world record of 2:03.14 set last year. Smith went out under world-record pace at the U.S. trials but finished in 2:05.16.
Gaines, however, said he doesn't believe Smith was fully rested for the U.S. trials and can be faster in Paris provided she isn't intimidated. "If Regan just swims her race, I think she can win it," he said.
Smith's 100-meter backstroke record at the trials punctuated a tumultuous time for the Minnesotan. She dropped out of Stanford and moved to Arizona to train with Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals. Smith has since followed Bowman to Austin, Texas, where he is the director of swimming at the University of Texas.
Along with grinding physical workouts, Smith's transformation of the past 18 months has included lots of mental work.
"I think it used to scare me, but not now," Smith said of the rivalry with McKeown. "And I do want to give myself some credit. I was the first person to go under 2:04 in the 200 back. I was the first person to break 58 in the 100. I set those standards, so I'm really proud of myself for that. I don't want to sell myself short."
While Smith vs. McKeown is part of an intense United States-Australia pool rivalry, the two swimmers never trash talk or disrespect each other.
"She's an exceptionally strong mental competitor. She just knows how to get it done, and I really respect that about her," Smith said of McKeown.
That's why Smith has worked hard on her mental preparation. "Even though I haven't [beaten] her in a race in a very long time, I do still think I could walk away with two gold medals in the 100 and 200 back just as easily as she could," Smith said.
Complicating the McKeown matchup is the order of events.
After the 100 backstroke July 30 but before the 200 on Aug. 2, Smith has another monster matchup in the 200 butterfly against 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh. Smith is a legitimate gold medal contender, and McIntosh is predicted to be a breakout star of the Games.
McKeown will swim the 200 individual medley — and could handily win gold — but that event comes after the two backstroke events, meaning the Australian could be fresher for her final showdown with Smith.
As Paul Smith said, his daughter has a "legitimate shot at three individual gold medals, and she has a legitimate shot at zero."
Gaines spent time with Smith recently at the U.S. team's training camp in North Carolina and said she is in the best shape of her life mentally and physically.
"The unfortunate thing is she's facing maybe the two best all-around swimmers in the world," he said.
Those are the Olympics, he said, swimming's Super Bowl, where the competition is tougher and fitter than anywhere else.
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