Smith had the faster times in preliminary heats, barely. She swam 58.45 in her first heat, ahead of McKeown's 58.48 backstroke. They had the two fastest times in the semifinals, with Smith coming out on top again with a time of 57.97 to KcKeown's 57.99.
Smith's return to the Olympics caps a tumultuous time for the Minnesotan. Even before the Tokyo Olympics, she was struggling with her confidence in another of her signature events, the 200 backstroke. After Tokyo, she went to Stanford, but the team's training regimen turned out to be a poor fit. She left Stanford and moved to Arizona to train with Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals. Smith has since followed Bowman to Austin, Texas, where he is the director of swimming at the University of Texas.
"She's an exceptionally strong mental competitor. She just knows how to get it done, and I really respect that her," Smith said of McKeown.
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