Smith swims to victory in 200m backstroke
Regan Smith picked up her first win of the meet in the women's 200m breaststroke, finishing a half a second ahead of Claire Curzan.
Video Transcript
Regan Smith, Rowdy, we know about her great success in backstroke.
Silver behind Kathryn Berkoff here at Pan Pacs in both the 50 and 100 back, and silver in all three backstrokes at Worlds last summer.
See if she swims this with a little frustration and motivation based on results thus far.
And Curzan, bronze at the Worlds last summer in this event Yeah, both of them swimming so well over the last couple of years.
Regan Smith a little disappointing here in Irvine, but what a great bounce-back swim this morning in the preliminaries.
I, I thought that was her best swim in the meet, maybe the best swim of the year for Regan Smith Take your marks.
And, and Jason, she went 58 plus in the 100 backstroke.
I don't think she's done 58 in a final since she was, like, a teenager.
So she knows she was disappointed in that, and that's why it was even more special to be able to come back and have such, have such a great swim in the preliminaries.
Now, it's different here in the finals, I get it, but this is an opportunity for her to be able to knock on that door of her American record and maybe even the world record Ripped off the second-fastest time in the world this year with that prelim swim.
Smith and Curzan separated by about two-tenths.
Just a shade under world record pace in that opening 50 And again, we've talked about the, the strength of American women in backstroke.
Seven of the 10 fastest swimmers in the world this year all coming from the United States.
Seven of nine last year.
This is a very, very strong stroke, maybe the strongest in history for the US Regan Smith two-tenths better than world record time at the halfway point.
Curzan, nice underwater, trying to pull alongside her American teammate And, and here is the situation.
You've gotta swim straight.
We've seen so many swimmers all over the map in the lane, and sometimes they're swimming 202, 203 meters.
If she stays straight on here, she's got a chance because she looked so good in the prelims that she came out of her head coming off the prelim swim with a big smile on her face.
1:32.8.
Falling off just a little bit there It'll be a big race between two women that have been world champions in this event.
Regan Smith ahead of Claire Curzan of the United States.
The US crowd trying to boost both here down the stretch.
Curzan trying to mount a challenge.
Regan Smith has been coming up with silvers, trying to grab Pan Pacs gold here, and she'll have enough to get to the wall first.
Regan Smith diving in 2:05.57 to win here by about a second over Curzan, who ends up with silver Number 105 What a wacky meet, man Regan Smith It's just, there's no rhyme or reason behind these swims 100 backstroke It, it's a great win.
Listen, when you finish first at a major international competition like the Pan Pacific Championship, you should be proud.
But I get that reaction.
You go 2:04.1 this morning, you go about a second and a half slower, and you just try to make some sense out of it.
And I wish I could.
I, I just don't.
I mean, you, you saw Curzan.
She was a little slow Thank you
