Three-Time Olympic Medalist Swimmer Regan Smith Turns Pro

The backstroke world-record holder is leaving Stanford and moving her training base to Arizona State to join a pro group.

Pat Forde | Aug 9, 2022

regan-smith-turns-pro — Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports

Tokyo Olympic medalist and backstroke world-record holder Regan Smith is turning professional, leaving Stanford and moving her training base to Arizona State, the swimmer announced Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Smith will join the burgeoning pro group of Sun Devils coach Bob Bowman, who coached Michael Phelps throughout his unparalleled career. Smith, who set the world record in the 200-meter backstroke at FINA World Championships in 2019, also previously held the world mark in the 100-meter backstroke. She won three medals in Tokyo last year—two silver and a bronze—in the 200-meter butterfly, the 400-meter medley relay and the 100-meter backstroke. She also earned a pair of gold medals at the World Championships in Budapest earlier this summer in the 100-meter backstroke and 400-meter medley relay.

Smith is expected to be a mainstay of the United States’ 2024 swimming efforts, but the completion is especially stiff in the backstroke events, where America had the deepest talent pool in the world.

“After spending a substantial part of the last two years on my mental game, it’s time to focus on increasing my training intensity,” Smith said in a press release. “I’m entirely confident that Bob’s leadership and training will have me exactly where I want to be for Paris 2024. I believe that, in the long run, this is the best way for me to continue to develop as an athlete.”

Smith, from Minneapolis, swam one season at Stanford, helping the Cardinal to a third-place finish at the 2022 NCAA Championships.

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Published Aug 9, 2022

PAT FORDE

Pat Forde is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who covers college football and college basketball as well as the Olympics and horse racing. He cohosts the College Football Enquirer podcast and is a football analyst on the Big Ten Network. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Forde has won 28 Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest awards, has been published three times in the Best American Sports Writing book series, and was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. A past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and member of the Football Writers Association of America, he lives in Louisville with his wife. They have three children, all of whom were collegiate swimmers.