Regan Smith will compete in her second Summer Olympics next month with a new mindset, one that will hopefully help the 22-year-old American swimmer earn her first Olympic gold medal. 

Smith’s journey to Paris saw her medal in three individual events at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Indianapolis last month. She broke the world record in the women’s 100-meter backstroke, reclaiming the title she previously had in 2019 when she broke the record at just 17.

After the event, Smith said it was a "long time coming." For the past several years, the Olympic medalist had seemingly struggled with the mental side of her sport, which held her back from seeing the same success she once did five years ago. 

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But something changed in Smith’s approach, and she’ll be going for gold in the women’s 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke and the 200-meter butterfly.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Smith opened up about her mental health journey. 

"I, for a long time, I drank the Kool-Aid of the stigma around mental health. I didn't want to have a sports psychologist. I didn’t want to talk about it. I thought you were weak, or I thought I was weak. And so the feelings that I had, I tried to shove inside and ignore them, and it festered and exploded. And I had a really hard couple of years as an athlete." 

But one day, that changed.

"I kind of faced the music, looked in the mirror and was like, 'You're not weak for accepting help. Why don't you talk to someone and see where it goes?'"

And so Smith began the search for a sports psychologist who she felt was the right fit. And in October, she met Emily Klueh. 

"She has taken my swimming completely to the next level," Smith said.

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Klueh swam collegiately at Michigan and swam for the national team for 10 years. In 2023, she joined USA Swimming as manager of mental health and emotional wellness. Smith praised Klueh’s factual and logical approach to the sport, which she credits with turning around her performance in the pool.

"One thing that she always says to me, it's kind of her mantra with me, she's just like, 'Look at the facts of the situation.' And that was so eye-opening to me because, as an athlete, as a swimmer, I feel like I can look through things with a very emotional lens. I think that's where nerves come from, that's where anxiety comes from, and that's ultimately what leads us to choking, to be blunt, and to not perform at the level you're capable of performing at."

"She just did such an excellent job at dumbing everything down for me, which sounds silly, but it's a lot easier to swim fast and put up performances that you're proud of when things are simplified. And I couldn't figure out how to do that until she came into my life," she continued. "And so I'm so incredibly grateful, and I think I'm able to look at swimming with excitement now instead of anxiety. And I think excitement and anxiety kind of go hand in hand, but it can be very difficult to separate the two. I never could until I started to work with her."

Smith also spoke about another factor that improved her mental game.

Speaking to Fox News Digital on behalf of pet nutrition brand Nulo, Smith said she adopted a cat named Roo from an animal shelter in Arizona during a difficult time in her training this year. She had fallen ill just months before from the Olympic trials and was forced to stop training.

"I was so down in the dumps. I was like, ‘This is an Olympic year, and here I am sitting on the couch, exhausted when I try to go get groceries. Like, how am I supposed to go to the Olympics this summer? This is hopeless. I don't know what I'm supposed to do.’" 

That’s when her family and sports psychologist suggested that an emotional support animal might be a good solution. 

"She is the absolute sweetest thing, and she got me out of that rough patch, and she was such an incredible support system. And so when I was still kind of on the come-up recovering from my sickness, and I would come home from practice just in tears because I just wanted to be back [at] the level that I was at training-wise, she would greet me at the door."

Nulo has partnered with eight athletes, including fellow Olympians Simone Biles and Caeleb Dressel, as a part of the Fuel Incredible campaign aimed at highlighting the connection between athletes and their pets on the journey to the top.

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The director of a renowned shark research center in California shared how to stay safe and the importance of not panicking if you encounter a shark at the beach this summer season.

Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State University (CSU) Long Beach, told Fox News Digital that sharks will act aggressively when they feel threatened by humans.

"If an animal feels threatened, it will act aggressively," he said. "If you chase a cat down an alley, and you corner it, it will arch its back and raise its fur. 

"It will act aggressively to try to scare you off," Lowe said.

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Lowe said that through research at the Shark Lab, they have learned that sharks in Southern California are regularly around swimmers– and most of the time largely ignore humans.

"I think a lot of times when people see sharks in Southern California, it's because the shark wants to be seen, like they will literally swim right in front of people," he said. "And a lot of times, they're very shy. They're very coy."

"We see many sharks just completely ignore people on the surface," Lowe said.

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The shark researchers said that in the event you spot a shark, keep your eyes peeled on the predator.

"What we always tell people is to look, keep your eyes on the shark," Lowe said. "Let the shark know you see it and track it."

"If your face is in the water, follow the shark. It knows where your head is. It knows where your eyes are," he said. "If you're on your surfboard, turn your surfboard towards it. So the head of your surfboard acts like the head of an animal, and the shark feels like it's being watched."

Lowe said that if you lose track of the shark, look behind you because the predator is likely stalking you.

"If you lose sight of the shark, the first place you should always look is behind you, because that's what all predators do," he said. "If they're going to investigate something, they're going to investigate it from behind because that's the safest way to do that."

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Lowe said that an aggressive shark can be identified if it's "rapidly coming in and then zipping away."

"What an aggressive shark looks like is its rapidly coming in and then zipping away and coming in closer and zipping away or circling and getting closer and closer," Lowe said.

He said that if the shark is swimming slowly, it could mean that it is just curious and not aggressive.

"But if they start picking up speed, that's usually associated with aggression," he said.

Lowe said that shark aggression is typically associated with two reasons: for defensive reasons or if the predator is protecting its food source.

"There could be some food nearby that it's trying to protect, and therefore it might be acting aggressively towards a person," he said.

Lowe said that if a shark starts acting aggressive, they slowly back away without losing eye contact.

"Just keep slowly moving back, always facing the sharks, swimming away," he said. "And then if you get out of the water, notify other people, let lifeguards know. Let other people in the water."

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The Shark Lab at Cal State University (CSU) Long Beach tirelessly works to research shark behavior and inform the public.

Lowe said that the center has a variety of different ways to encounter the public and help them become more informed about shark activity and shark behavior.

"One way is through what we call, Shark Shacks," he said. "The Shark Shacks are pop-ups at a bunch of beaches across Southern California several times during the summer."

"We also have a big open house at the university on July 20th, which we call Sharks at the Beach," he said. "So this is where we get to invite the community in to see the Shark Lab."