PARIS – American swimmers Regan Smith and Phoebe Bacon advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter backstroke early Thursday morning at Paris La Defense Arena.
Bacon, in her first race of the Paris 2024 Olympics, finished fourth in a time of 2:09. Smith (2:09.61) was sixth.
The top 16 racers move on to the semis.
‘First race of the meet and there’s definitely some jitters but it was a lot of fun,’ Bacon said. ‘And I’m kind of just excited to get on my process of warm down and then prepare for tonight.’
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Bacon finished second in her heat, 11/100ths of a second behind Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, a four-time Olympic gold medalist. She said she used racing against McKeown as ‘a little bit’ of a measuring stick to see where she was at headed into tonight’s semifinals.
‘It’s always good to race a strong competitor, so any chance I get I’ll take it,’ Bacon said.
McKeown won gold in the 100-meter backstroke earlier in the Olympics, edging Smith, the American world record holder.
She also is scheduled to compete in the 200-meter individual medley.