Smit snags three gold medals at Janet Evans swim invitational

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Pan American gold medallist Julia Smit won three gold medals Saturday at the Janet Evans Invitational swimming meeting.

Smit won the 200m freestyle, 400m individual medley and 200m backstroke to take home all but one of the individual women's golds on offer on the night.

Smit claimed her first victory when she came from behind in the 200m free to beat Natalie Coughlin by just three-hundredths of a second.

Smit's time of 1:57.34 was the third-fastest American time ever recorded. Coughlin touched in 1:57.37, while Erin Reilly rounded out the top three in 1:59.69.

"The 200 free was definitely a breakthrough for me," Smit said. "It was my best time by four seconds. It was a really big surprise when I looked on the scoreboard. I was...