INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Regan Smith set the 100m backstroke world record at the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis on Tuesday, 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 U.S. 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.”
Smith, who took bronze in the event at the Tokyo Games, still has two more events to contest at the trials so she said she will 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.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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