Regan Smith, Katharine Berkoff Finish 2-3 in Women's 100-Meter Backstroke at the Paris Games
by Hanna Barton
NANTERRE, France – For the third night in a row, two American women stood on the podium in La Defense Arena for an individual swimming event. In a stacked 100-meter backstroke final, Regan Smith took silver and Katharine Berkoff secured a bronze, marking the 3,000th medal in U.S. Olympic history.
The race featured Smith, the current world record holder in the event, and two former world record holders in Canada’s Kylie Masse and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, who took gold in the event at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The depth of the field kept the final close at the start with Smith, Masse, Berkoff and McKeown all flipping within six one-hundredths of a second at the 50. The Aussie used the back half to get to the wall before Smith, touching in 57.33 over Smith’s 57.66. The battle for gold was a familiar one between the two rivals, who have faced each other in multiple international meets and have traded world records in the event since 2019.
The silver for Smith is an upgrade from Tokyo, where she took bronze behind McKeown and Masse. The 22-year-old set the stage for a big swim at the Games after breaking the world record at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming in June. With high expectations following her to the Olympic Games Paris, Smith has kept her focus on building upon each race. She has stuck with that plan so far, recording faster times from preliminaries to semifinals to finals in the 100-meter backstroke.
“I've been saying it the entire time I've been here, ‘Good. Better. Best,’” Smith said. “And that’s exactly what I did. I’m really proud of myself. I'm proud that I was able to drop from semifinals, that’s something I‘ve struggled with a lot in the past. I stayed in my own lane, I executed my race plan, and I left it all in the pool.”
Unlike Tokyo, Smith was not the only American standing on the podium. Berkoff, who put up the fastest time in preliminaries, was able to dip below the 58.0 mark and secure a bronze-medal finish for Team USA with a 57.98. The last time the U.S. was represented by two athletes on the women’s 100-meter backstroke podium was in 2008, when Natalie Coughlin took gold and Margaret Hoelzer took bronze.
“It was really special,” said Smith of sharing the podium with Berkoff. “I'm so proud of Katharine, and the legacy that she has upheld of her dad’s is absolutely incredible. I love her so much.”
Berkoff is not the first in her family to win an Olympic medal in the 100-meter backstroke. Her dad, David Berkoff, earned bronze for the U.S. at the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992 in the same event. In a true full-circle moment, Katharine’s bronze comes exactly 32 years to the day her dad won his.
“He was my first inspiration,” said Berkoff. “I wouldn't be where I am today without him. As soon as I figured out what he had done, I decided I wanted to do the same thing. It’s just been really special to follow in his footsteps.”
A standout on the collegiate level the past five years at North Carolina State University, Berkoff is the second-fastest American performer all-time in the 100-meter backstroke behind Smith. Despite making the podium in her Olympic debut, Berkoff shared after the race that while she’s happy to achieve a lifelong goal, she’s got more to give moving forward.
“You want to win, that's the goal,” said Berkoff after her race. “The 100 back is such a tight field. I knew it was going to be tough, and I knew I had a chance, but that was the ultimate goal. But I am really happy to be here and I'm so grateful to get another medal for Team USA. It means so much. It's just part of the dream in life … I’m really grateful for this.”
While Berkoff is done with her lone individual event, she will likely be used for the 4x100-meter medley relays later in the meet. Smith will be back in the pool on Wednesday for the 200-meter butterfly, where she is the American record holder.
Hanna Barton is writing for Team USA as a graduate student in the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University Indianapolis.