Lakeville swimmer Regan Smith gets the day off but wins her first Olympic gold medal anyway

Lakeville’s Regan Smith is one of the busiest swimmers on the U.S. team at the Paris Olympics, having qualified for three individual events.

She didn’t have a race Saturday but still won her first Olympic gold medal.

The U.S. mixed 4x100-meter medley relay team of Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske held off China and Australia with a world-record time of 3:37.43 to win the event, which is in the Olympic program for the second time.

Smith swam the backstroke leg of the preliminary heat Friday and will get a medal, too. She helped the United States claim the fastest qualifying time with breaststroker Charlie Swanson, Caeleb Dressel on butterfly and freestyler Abbey Weitzeil.

The United States changed out all four swimmers for the final and adjusted the gender order, choosing a male backstroker in Murphy to lead off and closing with women on the butterfly and freestyle legs. Smith also swam a preliminary heat for the mixed medley at the Tokyo Games, but the United States was fifth in the event’s Olympic debut three years ago.

Smith now has seven career Olympic medals, including five silvers and a bronze. She has won three individual silvers in Paris in the 100 and 200 backstroke and 200 butterfly, leading to questions about all those second-place finishes.

“If you get too caught up in things like colors of medals, I think that’s how you can crumble,” she said Thursday after the 200 butterfly. “So I’m going to focus on racing the way I need to race, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Smith is expected to swim the backstroke leg of the women’s 4x100 medley relay Sunday. It will be the last event of the swimming competition in Paris.

“I love relays,” she said Friday. “It’s so much fun getting hyped with your teammates.”