Phoebe Bacon carved a place in the most decorated discipline in American swimming, at a time that the U.S. boasts Olympic and world championships medalists and the world-record holder in the women’s backstrokes.
Bacon, an 18-year-old who just finished her freshman season at Wisconsin, won the 200m backstroke in Indianapolis, at the last Tyr Pro Swim Series stop before the Olympic Trials in Omaha in one month.
The victory stood out for the time: 2:06.84, third-fastest in the world this year and 1.98 seconds better than her personal best coming into the day.
And for the competition: Bacon edged world champion and world-record holder Regan Smith, 19, by six hundredths.
“Nothing’s more fun than racing Regan,” Bacon said on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. “It’s a warm-up for Trials.”
Many swimmers are racing this weekend for the last time before Trials, where the top two per individual event qualify for Tokyo.
But now, Bacon has to be grouped with a different set of decorated American swimmers: the backstrokers.
Like Smith, Kathleen Baker (who had the 100m back world record before Smith took it in 2019) and Olivia Smoliga (2019 World 100m back bronze medalist).
Bacon’s arrival on the elite level also came in 2019. She upset Smith in the 100m back at the U.S. Open, four months after Smith broke both backstroke world records at the world championships.
The time put Bacon second in the nation for the year and made her a contender, if not a favorite, to make the Olympic team. (NBC sports)