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|
| Regan
SMITH |
| Sport |
Swimming |
| NOC |
United States
|
| Gender | Women |
| Born | 09 Feb 2002
in Lakeville, MN, USA |
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Sport Specific Information |
Club / Team |
Stanford University: United States |
General Interest |
Hobbies |
Spending time with friends, watching TV shows, watching ice skating and gymnastics. (nbcolympics.com, 27 Apr 2021; nytimes.com, 22 May 2020; si.com, 09 Aug 2019) |
Sport Specific Information |
Why this sport? |
Neither of her parents had a swimming background so they signed her up for swim lessons to learn water safety. After watching her sister, Brenna, swim at a competition she decided she wanted to give it a try. "My first swim meet memory was at my swim school when I was seven. I remember winning my first race and feeling so hooked that I wanted to keep going and never stop." |
General Interest |
Hero / Idol |
US swimmers Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps. (kyma.com, 23 Apr 2021; si.com, 09 Aug 2019) |
Ambitions |
To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (startribune.com, 01 Aug 2021) |
Milestones |
She was the youngest member of the US team at the world championships in 2017 and 2019. (swimswam.com, 15 Jun 2019; usaswimming.org, 29 Sep 2017) |
Sport Specific Information |
Name of coach |
Greg Meehan [club], USA |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She first got into the pool at age two and started competing at age seven. She began her competitive swimming career for South Metro Storm Swim Club in Lakeville, MN, United States of America. |
Further Personal Information |
Occupation |
Athlete, Student |
Languages |
English |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
Riptide Rocket (swimswam.com, 15 Jun 2019) |
Other information |
MOVE TO STANFORD
In June 2019 she declared her verbal commitment to study and swim at Stanford University in the United States of America for the 2020/21 academic year. However, she decided to defer her enrolment for a year as a result of the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and remained in Minnesota training under coach Mike Parratto at Riptide Swim Club. She won three medals at Tokyo 2020, and in September 2021 she began studying at Stanford. "After talking a lot with Greg [Meehan, Stanford women's swim coach and US Olympic swim coach], we just decided that it would be better for me and my training to have more consistency at home. This was a really, really hard decision to make. After a lot of thinking and procrastinating making my decision, I just realised that it would be the best thing to stick it out and finish this chapter with Mike [Parrato, her coach at Riptide Swim Team] like I intended to before all this [the COVID-19 pandemic] blew up. Mike has been my coach for six years [speaking in 2021] and I felt like it was right to finish strong with him. This transition [to college life] has been very difficult, I won't lie. I miss home. [But] I know ultimately this is going to help me as a person." (USA Swimming Facebook page, 04 Dec 2021; hometownsource.com, 19 Aug 2021; KARE 11 YouTube channel, 16 Jun 2021; startribune.com, 13 Oct 2020; swimswam.com, 29 Jul 2020; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 30 Jun 2019)
STAYING PRESENT DURING MEETS
She does not listen to music as part of her pre-race routine. "I actually hate listening to music before I race because I feel like it distracts me. I think I feed off the energy in the crowd really well and that motivates me more than any song. I like being present in the moment at competitions instead of zoning out with music." (nbcolympics.com, 27 Apr 2021) |
Awards and honours |
She was named 17-18 Age Group Swimmer of the Year for 2019 and 2020 at the swimming website SwimSwam's Swammy Awards. (swimswam.com, 03 Jan 2021)
She was named the 2019 Female Swimmer of the Year and the 2019 World Junior Female Swimmer of the Year at the Swammy Awards. (swimswam.com, 31 Dec 2019, 22 Dec 2019)
She received the 2019 Breakout Performer of the Year and the 2019 Female Race of the Year awards at USA Swimming's Golden Goggles Awards. She was also part of the team that won the 2019 Relay Performance of the Year award. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 24 Nov 2019) |
Sport Specific Information |
Training Regime |
"I train eight times a week in the pool and I double twice a week. On a typical double day, I will wake up at 04:50. Practice is from 05:30-06:40. I have school and homework from 09:00 to 14:00 and then I have my second practice of the day from 15:00 to 17:30." |
General Interest |
Superstitions / Rituals / Beliefs |
"I always pack my pink Crocs [foam clogs] when going to meets. Even if I don't always wear them on deck, they're always packed with me. I have had them for almost five years [speaking in 2021]." (nbcolympics.com, 27 Apr 2021) |
Memorable sporting achievement |
Breaking Missy Franklin's 200m backstroke world record at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Republic of Korea. (kyma.com, 23 Apr 2021) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"I am always afraid that I'm not good enough to be competing at this level. I always walk into meets with low expectations because I really don't believe that I'm capable of much more. However, I've proven that I am very capable and hope to work past this mental block." (nbcolympics.com, 27 Apr 2021) |
Further Personal Information |
Residence |
Stanford, CA, USA |
Olympic Games |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 3 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Backstroke |
58.05 |
| 2 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Butterfly |
2:05.30 |
| 2 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:51.73 |
| 5 |
2021 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:40.58 |
World Championships |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 3 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
200m Butterfly |
2:06.58 |
| 2 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
200m Backstroke |
2:04.94 |
| 2 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
100m Backstroke |
57.78 |
| 2 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
50m Backstroke |
27.11 |
| 1 |
2023 |
Fukuoka, JPN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
|
| 4 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Butterfly |
2:06.79 |
| 1 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
100m Backstroke |
58.22 |
| 5 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
50m Backstroke |
27.47 |
| 1 |
2022 |
Budapest, HUN |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:53.78 |
| 1 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
200m Backstroke |
2:03.69 |
| 1 |
2019 |
Gwangju, KOR |
4 x 100m Medley Relay |
3:50.40 |
| 8 |
2017 |
Budapest, HUN |
200m Backstroke |
2:07.42 |
World Cup Short Course |
| Rank |
Year |
Venue |
Event |
Result |
| 17 |
2017 |
|
Overall |
|
| 2 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
200m Backstroke |
2:02.70 |
| 2 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
100m Backstroke |
56.33 |
| 5 |
2017 |
Singapore, SGP |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:41.91 |
| 7 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
50m Butterfly |
26.12 |
| 4 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Butterfly |
57.14 |
| 2 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Backstroke |
2:02.23 |
| 2 |
2017 |
Tokyo, JPN |
4 x 50m Medley Relay |
1:39.83 |
| 6 |
2016 |
Hong Kong, CHN |
200m Backstroke |
2:06.46 |
| 5 |
2016 |
Hong Kong, CHN |
100m Backstroke |
58.34 |
| 6 |
2016 |
Tokyo, JPN |
200m Backstroke |
2:05.83 |
| 8 |
2016 |
Tokyo, JPN |
100m Backstroke |
58.68 |
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