Regan Smith, world’s best backstroker, takes flight in butterfly

Regan Smith broke both backstroke world records at age 17. Having just turned 19, she beat the U.S.’ most established woman in the 100m butterfly on Friday, three months before Olympic Trials.

Smith won the 100m fly in 57.88 seconds at a Pro Series stop in San Antonio, pulling away from Kelsi Dahlia by three tenths of a second. Dahlia was the U.S.’ fastest woman in the 100m fly in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Smith isn’t yet committing to adding the 100m fly to her Olympic Trials slate. The 100m and 200m backs and the 200m fly have been her top events, but she’s ranked fourth in the nation in the 100m fly since the start of 2019. And on Friday, she beat two of the three swimmers ranked…