Regan Smith: 5 facts about the Olympic swimmer and world-record holder aiming for gold in Paris

For the Paris Olympics this summer, For The Win is helping you get to know some of the star Olympians competing on the world’s biggest stage. We’re highlighting 15 Team USA athletes in the 15 days leading up to the Opening Ceremony. Up next is Regan Smith.

Regan Smith has been here before, but this time around, she wants more. And more of it to be gold.

The 22-year-old swimmer from Minnesota is now a two-time Olympian after qualifying for the Paris Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke and 200-meter butterfly. She’s a standout swimmer and one of the more versatile ones on Team USA this summer.

Here are five things to know about Smith ahead of the Paris Olympics.

1. Regan Smith is already a three-time Olympic medalist

At her first Olympics in Tokyo, Smith came home with some hardware: Silver in the 200-meter butterfly, bronze in the 100-meter backstroke and silver in the women’s 4×100-meter medley relay. At world championships, she’s accumulated five gold medals, three silvers and one bronze, but she’s still searching for her first Olympic gold medal.

2. She enters the Olympics with a world record

WOOORRRLLLDDD RECORRRDDD

Regan Smith. 57.13. Believe it. #SwimTrials24

pic.twitter.com/Czt7GmCZgq

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 19, 2024

Smith had a standout performance at U.S. Olympic swimming trials in June, including breaking the 100 backstroke world record. She broke the American record in the semifinals, and then in the finals, she reclaimed the world record at 57.13. In a fun rivalry, she got the world record back from Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown, who stole it from Smith in 2021 and lowered it again in 2023.

Smith’s reaction at trials to getting it back?

“[Expletive] yeah!” she said at trials. “You know, like, long time coming. You know, like it’s about time, so I was psyched.”

3. She swam at Stanford but now trains with Bob Bowman at Longhorn Aquatics

After the Tokyo Olympics, Smith swam for one season at Stanford, where she was a seven-time All-American and a two-time NCAA champ in the 200 backstroke and 4×200 freestyle relay.

But she opted to turn pro after her freshman year — prior to the NCAA’s new rules allowing athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness — and went to train with Bob Bowman, famously Michael Phelps’ coach, and Arizona State’s pro team. When Bowman recently left Arizona State to take over Texas swimming, Smith was among the swimmers to follow him to Longhorn Aquatics.

4. She adopted a cat named Roo, and both of them are in a better place because of it

Earlier this year, Smith was going through it. She was living alone for the first time in Arizona, training for the Olympics and, in January, was recovering from mononucleosis. She could barely practice and was getting sent home early.

“I would just come home in tears every day because I was so frustrated because this was supposed to be one of the most important years of my life,” Smith told For The Win while promoting her partnership with Nulo, a sustainability-focused pet food company. “I needed to be spending every second that I could training, and I couldn’t do that. And I just felt so stuck and so alone because I was across the country from my family and my pets.”

She needed something to change. So, despite growing up with dogs, she adopted a black and gray tabby cat named Roo, and they fell in love immediately.

“I was still in the process of recovering from mono, and I would still come home from practice so many days just so upset and frustrated and emotional. And she would always be there for me waiting at the door, like, ‘Where have you been? Come give me attention.’ And she was just exactly what I needed, and our relationship has just grown and blossomed from there. And now I’m so thankful to say I’m in a much healthier place than I was back in January, and I think she is too.”

Roo, Smith noted, is now stronger with a fuller coat and is almost twice the weight she was when she was adopted. While Smith gave her a loving home, the swimmer said Roo offers everything from cuddles and emotional support to comedic relief when it’s needed the most.

5. Swimming at the Paris Olympics begins July 27

But Smith isn’t swimming right away. She’s entered in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 butterfly, along with the possibility of being on a relay team. Her first event, the 100 backstroke, is set for July 29.