Embracing the Pressure, Kieran Smith is Ready for Last College Postseason

Kieran Smith; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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Embracing the Pressure, Kieran Smith is Ready for Last College Postseason

That Kieran Smith got his dose of valuable perspective from Caeleb Dressel may not be a surprise, given the proximity of the University of Florida training mates.

But the location was unexpected. Smith was in an airport headed back to Gainesville from his hometown of Ridgefield, Conn., after the Tokyo Olympics. Dressel, the five-gold-medal star of Tokyo, was shuttling from his various post-Games appearances and about to embark on the International Swimming League season.

Smith had, to that point in September, been struggling to summon the same motivation to get restarted after the high of an Olympics that brought him a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle, sixth in the 200 free and fourth in the 800 free relay. When he mentioned that to Dressel, the sprinter commiserated, pointing out that he was six days away from a meet on another continent.

Kieran Smith; Photo Courtesy: Luke Jamroz Photography

“We were empathizing with each other because we were both kind of shot,” Smith said last week. “But it was kind of figuring it out for myself.”

Smith has done that emotional reckoning, hardly uncommon for college swimmers off the high of an Olympic appearance. And with his final postseason as a Gator beckoning, Smith is ready to chase history, both on the clock and in solidifying his legacy within a generation-defining distance group.

The biggest change for Smith has been his reason to be at the pool. He admitted that at the start of the season, he somewhat reluctantly punched the clock to be the senior leader the Gators needed. But the conversation with Dressel helped Smith recalibrate his personal goals and start pursuing them.

“It’s not like I ever did a half-assed job, because I was trying to be a good influence and a good leader,” Smith said. “But I was doing it for my teammates more than myself, and then I turned it around and started training hard for my own accomplishments and my own goals.”

Smith’s status as one of the top American mid-distance swimmers in the last two decades is secure. But his history at NCAAs is more checkered. Part of that was beyond his control thanks, denied a chance to build on an NCAA record 4:06.32 from SECs in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled NCAAs.

Smith says that’s well and truly in the past, beyond a pang of disappointment, shared by his entire cohort, of having three NCAAs to perform at their peak instead of four. Smith also didn’t have the NCAAs he wanted last year, after tying his record at SECs. He finished second at NCAAs behind Jake Magahey of Georgia, going 4:08.07. Magahey went 4:07.97 to set a meet record, also slower than his 4:06.71 from SECs, the second-fastest in history.

The 21-time All-American got his first NCAA title in the 200 free (1:30.10) to complement sixth in the 100 free, two runner-up relay finishes and four in the top four.

Kieran Smith after winning the 200 free at 2021 NCAAs; Photo Courtesy: NCAA media

The accomplishments of the summer of 2021 only add to the confidence that Smith takes into this postseason, starting with SECs and a chance to tangle with Magahey this week. Smith is the two-time reigning SEC Championships Swimmer of the Meet, with six conference titles to his name, and greater comfort in the shorter pool.

“I’ve been training really, really well,” he said. “Fall was really, really difficult. I probably put more yards in the pool than I have since I got to Florida. I think having those accomplishments this summer is going to give me a lot of confidence in the short pool. … Just having that accolade of Olympian and bronze medalist, I think that’s going to help me in the college postseason.”

Smith already knows the pressure of entering NCAAs as an American record holder. This year, he’ll arrive as an Olympic medalist. He’s embracing that next level.

“I think it will certainly add pressure,” he said. “I think going into say the 500 at NCAAs this year – I was the fastest ever last year and I got second, and this year there’s even going to be the added pressure of being the fastest American 400 guy last summer with a bronze medal – so there will be certainly a lot of pressure in that race. But it’s not something I can’t deal with. I think pressure enhances my performance a lot of the times. I think I’m really good at channeling nerves into good energy.”

Smith isn’t sated with what he’s accomplished, which strikes at the heart of his late-fall refocusing. He and double Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke have brought American men’s distance swimming forward by leaps and bounds after a long fallow period. And Smith believes there’s more to be done. He’s improved his speed to bolster the Gators’ arsenal of relays, and the 200 free American record of 1:29.15 by Dean Farris is in his sights. Smith regards 4:06 as soft for the 500 free, not least because he felt confident of lowering it had the 2020 NCAA Championships taken place.

Smith is in the legacy-pondering phase of his career. And he’s eager to get after it.

“There’s definitely things that I feel that I’d like to accomplish to leave behind a bit more of a legacy,” he said. “I would not be able to forgo this year of college swimming, because there’s so much more that I want to do. If we’re talking the 500, I still think that 4:06 is not a particularly strong time considering that we had a 4:08 in 1995. I think there’s still places that race needs to go, and I’d love to propel it in that direction.”

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