Leah Smith
Born April 19, 1995, Leah Smith is a distance swimmer originally from Pittsburgh, Pa. Smith is a member of USA Swimming’s National Team in addition to the women’s swimming team at the University of Virginia, where she’s a school record holder in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyles. Her best event is probably the 500 freestyle – she’s the second-fastest U.S. swimmer ever in the event.
Family of Athletes
Smith grew up in a family full of elite athletes. In addition to her World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion Great Uncle, Billy Conn, her father, Dan, was a pole vaulter at Virginia, her sister, Aileen, swims for Columbia, and her great-grandfather, Jimmy Smith, was a World Series Champion.
University of Virginia
Prior to attending Virginia, Smith was a student at Oakland Catholic High School, where she was listed as one of the top recruits in the class of 2013.
2013-2014
During her first year at Virginia, Smith qualified for the NCAA Championships right away, and earned the ACC Freshman of the Year. At the 2014 NCAA meet Smith had her best finish in the 1650 freestyle, picking up bronze.
2014-2015
Smith returned to Virginia to compete in her sophomore season, this time winning two golds in the 1650 and 500 freestyles, breaking the meet record in the 500. She also finished seventh overall in the 200 freestyle.
2015-2016
The collegiate distance freestyle events continued to be dominated by Smith in her junior year. Having already broken the 1650 freestyle NCAA record at the 2016 ACC Championships, Smith went on to successfully defended her 1650 and 500 freestyle NCAA titles. She also finished sixth in the 200 freestyle and took fourth with her team in the 800 freestyle relay.
2016-2017
Smith finished behind Katie Ledecky in the 500 Free with a time of 4:28.90 to win the silver medal. While she was four seconds behind Ledecky, she was more than seven seconds ahead of third place finisher, Kennedy Goss. Smith helped her University of Virginia teammates to a fifth place finish in the 4×200 Free Relay leading off with a time of 1:42.46. Smith then captured fifth place in the 200 Free with a time of 1:42.66, almost two full seconds out of medal contention. In the 1650 Free, Smith rounded out her performance with a second place behind Katie Ledecky with a time of 15:28.89, almost 22 full seconds ahead of third place finisher, Megan Byrnes.
Collegiate Women Sports Award Finalist
Smith made huge progress at Virginia between her freshman and sophomore year, leaping from a single third-place finish at the NCAA Championships to winning two individual events in 2015. Due to her success she was listed as one of four finalists in the running for the Collegiate Women Sports Award. The last four finalists all won at least two individual events, putting Smith up against the likes of Missy Franklin, Simone Manuel and Kelsey Worrell. The winner of the award is put in for the running to the prestigious 2015 Honda Cup.
USA Swimming National Junior Team
Before qualifying as a National Team member, Smith earned a spot on USA Swimming’s National Junior Team. At the 2012 Junior Pan Pacific Championships she won gold in the 400m freestyle and picked up a bronze in the 800m freestyle, which won her the award, Swimmer of the Meet. The same year she competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials, finishing 14th in the 400m freestyle and 18th in the 800m freestyle.
2014 Pan Pacific Championships
In 2014 Smith moved up from the junior level, and she earned a spot on the U.S. Pan Pacific Championship roster with her performance at the 2014 Phillips 66 Nationals. She finished just out of the final, picking up a ninth-place finish in the 800m freestyle and the 400m freestyle. But she did pick up a gold medal as a member of the 800m freestyle relay.
2015 World University Games
In South Korea, Smith picked up her two golds for Team USA. In the 400 meter freestyle, Smith dominated from the start, touching in 4:05.29. In the prelims, Smith broke the games record in 4:04.66 which was the fourth fastest time in the world so far that year. Smith also picked up a gold in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay, breaking the meet record along the way. She became the first Cavalier since 1999 to win gold at the World University games. She also had a fourth place finish in 200 meter freestyle.
2015 FINA World Championships
Smith headed to Kazan as part of USA’s 4×200 freestyle relay team. The same team that won gold at the Pan Pacific Championships the previous year suited up for the relay again and continued its success. Smith swam the second leg of the relay to help USA take gold in the event.
Smith ended 2015 as the 10th ranked 800 freestyler in the world.
2016 US Olympic Trials
Smith improved her time by about 2.5 seconds to finish second in the 400M Free to punch her ticket to Rio. Smith swam to a 4:00.65, her previous best was a 4:03.14, beating third place finisher, Cierra Runge, by almost seven full seconds.
Smith again finished second to Ledecky in the 800M Free with a time of 8:20.18. This secured her second individual swim.
By finishing third in the 200M Free, Smith earned a spot on the 4x200M Free Relay.
2016 Rio Olympics
Leah Smith swam a lifetime best to win the bronze medal in the women’s 400M freestyle. She finished just seven tenths of a second behind Jazmin Carlin.
In the 800M Free, Smith finished 6th just a little slower than her Olympic Trials swim with a time of 8:20.95.
2017 US World Team Trials
In the 800M Free, Smith finished second behind Katie Ledecky in the 800M Free, with a 8:20.46, seven full seconds ahead of third place finisher. Smith then finished in her familiar second spot behind Ledecky in the 200M Free. Smith then went on to win the 400M Individual Medley with a time of 4:33.86. In the 400M Free , Smith placed second behind Ledecky, and then went on to win the Ledecky-less 1500M Free. BY qualifying in the 200, 400, 800, 1500 M Frees, and 400M IM, as well as a probable spot on the 4×200 Free Relay, Smith will be the busiest swimmer (along with Ledecky) for the USA in Budapest.
2017 FINA World Championships
USA had the 1-2 sweep, with Smith grabbing silver in the 400m freestyle in 4:01.54, a bit off of her lifetime best. Smith makes history with Ledecky, as it’s the first time since 1978 that Americans have both been on the podium at Worlds in this race on the women’s side.
Day five of competition in the women’s final of the 4x200m freestyle relay, Smith led off for the Americans in a personal best 1:55.97. Mallory Comerford (1:56.92) and Melanie Margalis (1:56.48) took over the middle legs of the relay as they battled down the stretch with China and Russia. It was a very tight race with China going into the final leg, but Katie Ledecky took off with a 1:54.02 split to help the Americans strike gold again.
Day seven Smith won bronze in the women’s final of the 800m freestyle. Smith snapped her best time to win the bronze in 8:17.22, her first time under 8:20.
2018 U.S. National Championships
Smith finished as the runnerup to Katie Ledecky in the 800 freestyle (8:22.79) and also won silver in the 400 freestyle behind Ledecky (4:02.21). She also placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:56.93) following a 1:56.78 clocking in the prelims, and fourth in the 400 IM (4:35.68)
2018 Pan Pacific Championships
Leah had a busy Day 1, swimming both the 200 free and 800. In prelims, Leah swam a 1:56.81 to end up 3rd overall, but 3rd behind her fellow Americans Katie Ledecky and Allison Schmitt, rendering her to the B-final. At night, Smith started off with the 800 timed finals, where she finished behind Ledecky and was just touched out by Ariarne Titmus, 8:17.07 to 8:17.21, to end up with the bronze. In the B-final of the 200 free, she finished at 1:58.64 to end up 12th overall. Smith bounced back on day 2 as she split 1:56.44 to help USA nab a silver medal in the 4×200 free relay. On day 3, Smith earned a bronze in the 400 free, touching 3rd with a time of 4:04.23. She finished off her pan pacs performance with a bronze in the women’s 1500, touching third in a time of 16:00.82.
2018 Short Course World Championships
Smith capped off 2018 with a 2 medal performance in Hangzhou. She swam to individual bronze in the 800 free, locked in a tight battle with Italian Simona Quadarella the whole race and falling behind just at the end. She also led off the 4×200 free relay that scored silver behind China.
ISL – LA Current
On June 18, 2019, Leah Smith was announced as a member of the LA Current ISL team, headed by GM Lenny Krayzelburg.
2019 World Championships
Smith started her World Champs off in the 400 free, touching behind Ariarna Titmus of Australia and American teammate Katie Ledecky to touch for bronze in 4:01.29. On Day 5, Smith raced in the 4×200 free relay prelims, where she split 1:57.49 on the 4th leg to help USA get 2nd seed heading into finals, where they would go on to earn a silver medal.
2022 World Championships
After missing the 2020 Olympic team completely, Leah Smith had a big bounceback in Budapest. Before the meet started, Smith was voted as 1 of 5 captains for the team. On day 1, she made the final of the 400 free, where she snuck in for 3rd place at 4:02.08 (.08 ahead of 4th place), to earn bronze.
On day 5 of the meet, Smith swam the 2nd leg of the 800 free relay in the final, splitting 1:56.47 to help Team USA capture gold in a championship record of 7:41.45.
2023 U.S. International Team Trials (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Smith had a solid meet, posting season bests in all three events the swam: the 200, 400, and 800 frees. In the 800 free on night 1, smith placed 4th. She was 14.81 from Ledecky who won but 1.6 back from runner-up Jillian Cox. Cox is committed to the University of Texas, where Smith currently trains. Smith was also beaten by .88 seconds by Katie Grimes.
In the 200 free was 5th in prelims with a 1:57.17 but fell to 6th in the final with a 1:56.91. Because of the numerous women with multiple qualifications by the end of the meet, Smith will get to go to Worlds, bringing valuable experience to a younger relay team. In the 400 free she placed 3rd, .60 seconds behind Bella Sims who is joining her on the 4×200 free relay in Japan. Smith’s time was strong, a 4:03.85, and was well clear of the next finisher.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
Smith was named a captain for the US before the meet. In her sole event, the 800 free relay, Smith led off the prelims relay in 1:57.78, off her season best by almost a second. The finals squad took silver.
