{"id":588844,"date":"2024-06-19T18:06:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T01:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=588844"},"modified":"2024-06-19T18:17:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T01:17:21","slug":"u-s-olympic-trials-day-4-regan-smith-answers-back-with-a-top-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-olympic-trials-day-4-regan-smith-answers-back-with-a-top-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials Day 4: Regan Smith Answers Back with a Top Seed in 200 Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olympic Trials Day 4: Smith Answers Back with a Top Seed<\/strong><\/p>\n

In what has shaped up to be a Texas showdown for Thursday night\u2019s final, American record holder Regan Smith<\/strong> was in clear control of her heat of the semifinals Wednesday night. She was out in a 59.01, right on pace with her American record on the way to a win in 2:04.91.<\/p>\n

Emma Sticklen<\/strong> stuck with her for the first 100 meters but settled into the second position in the back half of the first semifinal heat. Smith ultimately touched almost a body length ahead with a time of 2:04.91, about a second over her American record. Smith is hot off a world record in the 100 backstroke on Tuesday night<\/a>, and chances are she\u2019s setting herself up for quite the performance Thursday.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, Alex Shackell<\/strong> responded to Smith\u2019s swim in the second heat with a time of 2:06.10 – a 17-18-year-old national age-group record, which happened to be owned by Smith at 2:06.39 from 2020. The Carmel product dominated her heat and has positioned herself to battle Smith head-to-head in the final.<\/p>\n