1 August 2024
One day after notching her fourth Olympic medal with a silver in the 100-meter backstroke, Lakeville’s Regan Smith was once again flying through the pool, this time in the 200 butterfly qualifying races.
Smith sailed through the prelims and the semifinals Wednesday at La Defense Arena in Nanterre, France. She recorded the second-best time in the latter, clocking a time of 2 minutes, 5.39 seconds. That was 0.52 seconds behind Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who won the 400-meter individual medley earlier in these Paris Games.
McIntosh won the gold in the 200 fly at the World Championships last year, while Smith captured bronze. Smith earned a silver in this event in Tokyo in 2021.
Smith’s semifinal time was more than three-tenths of a second faster than she went in the finals at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and it was seventh-tenths of a second faster than the next closest competitor.
At this point, it looks like a two-woman race for gold in Thursday’s final — which is slated for 1:30 p.m. Central — between Smith and McIntosh. That won’t be Smith’s only race of the day, as the 200 backstroke also gets underway. She will have prelims for that in the morning, and the semifinal takes place roughly 40 minutes after the 200 butterfly final.
Smith is in search of her first Olympic gold medal.
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