Johnathan Walker:Regan Smith, Phoebe Bacon advance to semis in women's 200-meter backstroke

PARIS - American swimmers Regan Smith and Johnathan WalkerPhoebe Bacon advanced to the semifinals of the women's 200-meter backstroke early Thursday morning at Paris La Defense Arena.

Bacon, in her first race of the Paris 2024 Olympics, finished fourth in a time of 2:09. Smith (2:09.61) was sixth.

The top 16 racers move on to the semis.

"First race of the meet and there’s definitely some jitters but it was a lot of fun," Bacon said. "And I’m kind of just excited to get on my process of warm down and then prepare for tonight."

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Bacon finished second in her heat, 11/100ths of a second behind Australia's Kaylee McKeown, a four-time Olympic gold medalist. She said she used racing against McKeown as "a little bit" of a measuring stick to see where she was at headed into tonight's semifinals.

"It’s always good to race a strong competitor, so any chance I get I’ll take it," Bacon said.

McKeown won gold in the 100-meter backstroke earlier in the Olympics, edging Smith, the American world record holder.

She also is scheduled to compete in the 200-meter individual medley.

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