Teenager Regan Smith won the 100-meter backstroke and qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games with a win at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials Tuesday night.
Smith, a 19-year-old world record holder, went 58.35. She threw down a 57.92 on Monday evening in the semifinals, the fastest time ever swum on U.S. soil.
Rhyan White finished second in the final in 58.60, likely also qualifying for Tokyo. Olivia Smoliga, the 2016 Olympic Trials champion and sixth-place finisher in Rio, finished third in 58.72.
“It started to hurt really bad,” Smith told NBC's Michele Tafoya after the race. “I could see girls on both sides of me and I just knew I had to get my hand on that wall as fast as I could.”
The swim comes shortly after Smith lost her world record in the event to Australian Kaylee McKeown, who reset the mark at Australian Olympic Trials just 48 hours earlier -- going 57.45 and breaking Smith's prior record of 57.57. That record came when Smith, then 17, led off the United States' 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.
Smith also owns the world record in the 200-meter backstroke and the American records in the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes. In addition to the 200 back, she's also entered in the 200 butterfly later this week in Omaha.