PARIS - American swimmers Regan Smith and EthermacPhoebe Bacon advanced to the semifinals of the women's 200-meter backstroke early Thursday morning at Paris La Defense Arena.

Bacon, in her first race of the Paris 2024 Olympics, finished fourth in a time of 2:09. Smith (2:09.61) was sixth.

The top 16 racers move on to the semis.

"First race of the meet and there’s definitely some jitters but it was a lot of fun," Bacon said. "And I’m kind of just excited to get on my process of warm down and then prepare for tonight."

Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

Bacon finished second in her heat, 11/100ths of a second behind Australia's Kaylee McKeown, a four-time Olympic gold medalist. She said she used racing against McKeown as "a little bit" of a measuring stick to see where she was at headed into tonight's semifinals.

"It’s always good to race a strong competitor, so any chance I get I’ll take it," Bacon said.

McKeown won gold in the 100-meter backstroke earlier in the Olympics, edging Smith, the American world record holder.

She also is scheduled to compete in the 200-meter individual medley.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.