"My biggest fan"- Regan Smith reacts to Kate Douglass' gesture ahead of swimming World Cup

Olympic champion swimmer Regan Smith recently shared her thoughts about teammate Kate Douglass' gesture ahead of the Swimming World Cup. The next edition of the World Aquatics' Swimming World Cup will take place in Carmel, Indiana, from October onwards.

Smith shared a photo, as well as a personal message from Kate Douglass on her Instagram profile. Douglass wondered if Smith was prepared for the upcoming Swimming World Cup as much as she was.

Douglass had written in her Instagram DM to Regan Smith,

"Hey Kate! The Swimming World Cup is officially one month out..... How ready are you?"

Smith couldn't help but be in awe of Douglass as she captioned her Instagram post as,

"My biggest fan @kaatedouglass"

Screengrab of Regan Smith's Instagram story [Image Source : Regan Smith's Instagram]

Kate Douglass and Regan Smith share a lot of mutual respect. In a conversation in November 2024 after competing for the USA at the Paris Olympics, Douglass mentioned that she wouldn't have competed at the next Swimming World Cup without the company of Regan Smith as she said,

"But it just kind of seemed like an experience I didn’t want to say no to. Uh, but I feel this year is kind of just all about new experiences and having fun with swimming and so that was why I wanted to do it. But I also was like I’m not doing it by myself, and so me and Regan were kind of you know both talking about you know if we wanted to do it or not and how we would only do it if the other one was doing it.”

Kate Douglass and Regan Smith competed together in the women's 4x100m medley event at the Paris Olympics last year. Not only did they contribute to the Olympic gold medal for Team USA, the two swimmers also helped in establishing a new world record of 3:49.23, with Regan Smith making a new split-Olympic record of 57.28 seconds.

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Regan Smith talks about the camaraderie with Kate Douglass

Regan Smith and Kate Douglass with other teammates at the Singapore 2025 World Aquatics Championships [Image Source: Getty]

Regan Smith once recounted her camaraderie with Kate Douglass as a fellow swimmer. In a SwimSwam podcast conducted around November 2024, the 23-year-old swimmer revealed that she didn't want to exactly beat Douglass, irrespective of the race. In her words,

"When I touched the wall on the two back, um, I knew that it wasn’t enough for us to tie. So immediately upon looking at the board, I was like, ‘God dang it.’ That would have been so fun.”

Smith further added that she would've wanted at least one meet to be a tie. The 23-year-old swimmer said,

"I knew that, like, in order to tie or beat Kate, I had to break the world record, and I was like, ‘F**k, okay, I got to go tonight.' ”

Kate Douglass and Regan Smith were last seen in action together at the World Aquatics Championships held in Singapore in August 2025. While Douglass clinched a total of five medals including three gold medals, Smith won a gold medal in the 4x100m medley event alongside Kate Douglass and four silver medals in women's 50m backstroke, women's 100m backstroke, women's 200m backstroke, and women's 200m butterfly events respectively.