Katharine Berkoff secured her spot in the women’s 100-meter backstroke final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials by winning both her heat and semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium.
On Monday morning, she won her heat in 58.09 seconds, followed by a time of 57.83 to win the first semifinal in the evening session.
Regan Smith set a new American record in the second semifinal with a time of 57.47. All the final qualifiers finished in under a minute.
Berkoff had the second-best overall time going into the final, improving her time from the morning by leading the first half of the semifinal in 28 seconds and breaking 58 seconds for the first time.
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She led at the turn in the morning race by just 0.05 seconds ahead of Kennedy Noble and then pulled away from the field with three swimmers finishing under a minute. Smith earned the top qualifying time in the heats and led the 16 semifinalists.
The field was narrowed down to eight in the semifinals, with the final scheduled for Tuesday night at 6 p.m. MT. Berkoff will aim to finish in the top two to secure a spot in Paris after narrowly missing out in 2021.
The 100 backstroke is the first of Berkoff’s three scheduled events for the week, which also include the 100 and 50 freestyles.
In 2021, Berkoff finished fourth overall in the 100 back at the previous Olympic Trials. Since then, she has become a three-time NCAA champion in the event, earned 30 All-America honors, and won 10 world championship medals.
Berkoff was one of two Montanans competing this week. Billings’ Liam Kerns participated in the men’s 100 breaststroke on Saturday.
