Regan Smith conquers self-doubt to regain backstroke world record

INDIANAPOLIS – Regan Smith was so riddled with self-doubt that she thought her days of breaking backstroke records were gone for good, but after learning to tame her emotions she is once again on top of the world.

The American said on June 18 that the new-found sense of belief in herself was key to regaining a 100m backstroke world mark she set in 2019 as a 17-year-old.

“It’s confidence all the way,” she told reporters after clocking a sizzling 57.13 seconds at the United States Olympic swimming trials to slash 0.2sec off Australian Kaylee McKeown’s mark.

“I’ve always had it physically. I’ve always had like a God-given natural ability to swim backstroke, but I just never believed in myself ever and that’s always going to be a work in progress.”

In contrast to the highs of her new world record, Smith said her lowest point came at the trials for the 2021 Tokyo Games.

“I just didn’t want to be there. I wasn’t excited. I had no faith in myself,” she said.

“I wanted other people to do it because I thought that they were going to be better at doing it than I was.”

That all began to change when she started working with a sports psychologist in October 2023. The 22-year-old said she has seen steady improvement in her mental health and performances ever since.

“What I really struggle with is separating emotion from logic, and I think the best of the best, they are able to stay logical in the hardest times,” Smith added.

“Because when logic goes out the door and emotion comes in, that’s when you choke, and I did that over and over because I just let my emotions take over.”

Despite her struggles, she still managed to pick up three Olympic medals in Tokyo – two silvers and a bronze.

Now brimming with confidence, Smith is eager for the showdown with McKeown in Paris where she believes she can break her own record and get her hands on her first Olympic gold medal.

“That was an amazing race but it wasn’t a perfect race. I know there’s things that I can clean up and do better, and I’m going to work towards that,” she said.

In other news, China will send 11 swimmers implicated in a major doping scandal to Paris, after the country named its squad for the Games on June 18.

Twenty-three Chinese swimmers tested positive for the heart drug trimetazidine – which can enhance performance – ahead of the Tokyo Games, it emerged in April.

They were not sanctioned after the World Anti-Doping Agency accepted the argument of Chinese authorities that the positive tests were caused by food contamination. Several of the swimmers then went on to win medals, including gold, in the Japanese capital.

Amid the controversy, China has remained steadfast and proceeded with announcing its squad – among them were 11 of the 23 drug-tainted swimmers who were named in the reports in April.

They include butterfly specialist Zhang Yufei, who won two golds in Japan, and another gold medallist in Wang Shun.

Breaststroke multiple world champion and 200m world record-holder Qin Haiyang is another who will go to Paris. REUTERS, AFP