‘The Mood is Right and the Vibes are Great': Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, 4X200 Freestyle Relay Earn Medals

NANTERRE, France – A triple-medal night at Paris’s La Défense Arena saw several Americans take home Olympic hardware in the women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay, 200m breaststroke, and the 200m butterfly Thursday night.

Kate Douglass grabbed the gold medal in the 200m breaststroke on Thursday shortly after Regan Smith secured another silver medal for Team USA in the 200m butterfly. Additionally, the quartet of Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden, Katie Ledecky, and Erin Gemmel won another silver in the 4x200-meter relay to cap off the night.

The pair of Smith and Douglass share more than just medal-winning swimming performances. Each set American records in their 200m swims on Thursday, and they’ve been roommates for the past several weeks, looking all the way back to USA Olympic training camp in Croatia.

Now with a shared space in the athlete village in Paris, Smith and Douglass document their time together on social media. The two even bought matching sweatsuits to wear on their flight to training camp in Croatia. Trendy TikToks and other behind the scenes posts flood any swimming-savvy social media users’ timelines, giving fans of USA Swimming a peek behind the curtain at real Olympic life.

“The mood is right and the vibes are great [in the village],” Douglass said. “...We’re very proud of ourselves and proud of how we've done and I'm very proud of everything that everyone has accomplished.”

The happy-go-lucky duo has become part of a fearsome opponent in the pool, too.

Both had already won silver medals entering Thursday's finals – Smith in the 100-meter backstroke and Douglass in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay. Their versatility continues to contribute to Team USA’s overall medal count after Smith’s silver 200m butterfly swim and Douglass’ gold in the 200m breaststroke on Thursday.

Together the Smith and Douglass pair swims all four strokes – an unprecedented level of versatility – and does it at a high level, winning three silver medals and a gold medal in all four of their combined events so far into the Olympic meet.

“I don't want to think about what it means to win gold versus silver,” Smith said after her breaststroke swim. “Because I think when you get so wrapped up in your head about that, you're never going to be happy. And then I feel like when you do win the gold, then it's just like okay, well what's after that? And so I just want to be proud of myself regardless.”

Smith’s Olympics aren’t over yet. In fact, her night wasn’t even over after the 200m breaststroke. She still had another 200 meters of backstroke to swim before she was out of the pool. She competed in the 200m backstroke semifinal mere minutes after receiving her silver medal, and qualified for the final with a time of 2:08.14.

“We do a lot of that throughout the year,” Smith said of her quick turnaround. “...I have a lot of sessions where I have two races within 30 minutes, and granted this is much different because it's a much higher stress environment, but it’s something that I’m used to doing.”

Smith will race the 200m backstroke from lane seven on Friday evening, 8:36 p.m. Paris time (2:36 p.m. Eastern). Meanwhile, Douglass has a quick turnaround as she prepares for women’s 200m individual medley heats on Friday morning. Both hope to secure more medals for Team USA as they round out their Olympic showings. 

Madie Chandler is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.