Aug 11, 2015 2 min read

Leah Smith of Mt. Lebanon captured gold at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Kazan, Russia.

The University of Virginia junior was part of the U.S. women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay that finished in a time of 7:45.37, ahead of Italy and China. Smith, who swam the second leg in 1:56.86, was joined by Missy Franklin, Katie McLaughlin and Katie Ledecky on the relay. Smith led-off the American preliminary relay that won its heat in 7:52.61 with a personal-best time of 1:57.52.

It is Smith’s fourth international gold medal in the last calendar year.

Last month, the 19-year-old swimmer collected gold medals in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4x200m free relay at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea. In the 400 free, Smith led from start to finish and shattered the World University Games record with a 4:04.66 time in the prelims. Smith’s prelim time of 4:04.66 was also the fourth-fastest mark in the world this year. In the relay, she led off with a personal-best mark of 1:58.50. The time also enabled the U.S. side to smash the World University Games record in 7:53.88.

Earlier, Smith was part of the 4x200m free relay that took home gold at the Pan Pacific Championships in Gold Coast, Australia. She also won Division I college titles in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle during the NCAA championships held in March.

Smith swam scholastically for Oakland Catholic. She dominated the distance freestyle races, setting district and state records. She holds three records at UVA in the 500, 1,000 and 1,605 free events. She’s the second-fastest U.S. swimmer ever in the 500 free.

The daughter of Margee and Dan Smith has three siblings, including two brothers, Daniel and Neal. Her sister, Aileen, swims for Columbia.