“How can you not love the Olympics and the Olympic lead-up” - Fans react to Regan Smith’s world record in 100m back at U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

American competitive swimmer Regan Smith shattered the women’s 100m backstroke world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Track and Field Trials on June 18. She swam the distance in a sensational time of 57.13s to break the previous world record of 57.33 by Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, who had achieved it during the 2023 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup last October.

With this, Smith also secured her place in the USA’s squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics in dominating fashion. This will be her second consecutive Games after Tokyo 2020.

NBC Olympics & Paralympics posted the video of this incredible achievement by Smith on their X account, captioning it,

“REGAN SMITH HAS DONE IT! 😱”

Fans shared their reactions to this impressive performance by the 22-year-old. Following Smith’s exceptional swim, one of the users expressed their love for the Olympics and the period before it when the trials take place, stating:

“How can you not love the Olympics and the Olympic lead-up.”

Another user said that this was their favorite moment from the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials:

“This is my new favorite trials moment we needed this so badly”

Yet another showed their enthusiasm as the rivalry between the United States and Australia has now been set up, indicating Smith and McKeown will face each other during the Paris Olympics. They said:

"Just awesome…also always good to set up the classic Australia vs USA swim rivalry with a WR!!"

Here are some other reactions from fans that the video generated -

“I didn’t even watch this live and I was screaming GOOOOOOOO the whole swim holy s**t,” a user stated.

“SHE GOT IT AT THE VERY END!!! Absolute CHAMP!!!!” another chimed in.

“Yesss way to go Regan,” one user added.

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A look into Regan Smith’s performances at the Olympic Games

Regan Smith of Team United States poses with the silver medal for the Women's 200m Butterfly Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Regan Smith bagged three medals - two silver and a bronze - while representing the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She collected one silver in the women’s 200m butterfly, registering a time of 2:05.30 only behind China’s Zhang Yufei.

Smith was a part of the USA’s 4x100m medley relay team that clocked a time of 3:51.73. The team narrowly finished behind Australia which won the race with an Olympic record of 3:51.60. Her bronze was in the women’s 100m backstroke for which she has now broken the world record, having swam in a time of 58.05s then.