Regan Smith Deserved Nomination for Athlete of Year Award

Regan Smith Deserved Nomination for Female Athlete of the Year Award

Later this month, on the Golden Goggle Awards in Denver, USA Swimming will announce award winners in 5 classes. When Female Athlete of the Year is revealed, an acceptance speech might be given by Katie Ledecky, Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass or Katharine Berkoff. All 4 athletes loved sensational 2025 campaigns, highlighted by at the very least one world championship every.

But a fifth nominee ought to have been included: Regan Smith. At the World Championships in Singapore, Smith collected 5 medals. She earned a trio of silvers within the backstroke occasions, added a runnerup end within the 200 butterfly and earned a gold medal whereas main off the United States’ 400 medley relay, which set a world report.

Yet, Smith was not a finalist for Female Athlete of the Year.

The apparent requirement for nomination within the class was a person world championship. While Ledecky (800 freestyle/1500 freestyle) and Walsh (50 butterfly/100 butterfly) secured two titles every, Douglass (200 breaststroke) and Berkoff (50 backstroke) secured one gold medal every. Given what they achieved, none of those girls ought to have been got rid of the poll by Smith.

However, there’s something to be stated about an athlete’s general physique of labor, and Smith put collectively a superb 2025 season, which included a powerful displaying on the World Champs. Aside from ending simply behind Berkoff within the 50 backstroke, Smith took second to Australian star Kaylee McKeown within the 100 backstroke and 200 backstroke. In the 200 butterfly, Smith’s silver medal arrived behind the gold of Canadian standout Summer McIntosh.

Since rising on the scene as an adolescent on the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, Smith has been a constant presence for the United States. She has piled up a hefty assortment of medals on the Olympic Games and World Championships and lots of of her runnerup finishes have come to a pair of future Hall of Famers – a distinction Smith might declare sooner or later sooner or later.

When the United States National Team roster was launched earlier this week, no athlete boasted extra positions than Smith, who corralled seven. Smith is a National Teamer in all three backstroke and butterfly occasions, and within the 200 particular person medley. That’s one hell of a 12 months. For the report, listed here are Smith’s world rankings for 2025: 50 backstroke (fifth); 100 backstroke (second); 200 backstroke (second); 50 butterfly (thirteenth); 100 butterfly (tenth); 200 butterfly (second); 200 particular person medley (seventeenth).

Smith won’t be the selection for Female Athlete of the Year on the Golden Goggle Awards. But she actually achieved one other in 2025 to deserve a nomination.