Lydia Jacoby pips Lilly King in 100-Meter breaststroke at Olympics

Evansville, Indiana native Lilly King entered the Tokyo Olympics as one of the leaders of Team USA, especially when it came to the swimming team.

King is already a decorated swimmer on the world stage, and she was expected to pick up a gold medal in her top event, the breaststroke.

King was the reigning Olympics champion in the 100m breaststroke, and it appeared as if this Olympics would feel more like a coronation for the star. There were some potential challengers set to enter the pool with King, but she seemed too good to be upset.

What transpired in the pool on Tuesday was still a great race for the American team, but it was not a good outcome for King. The favorite ended up finishing in third place in the 100m breaststroke, but the Americans were still able to pick up a Gold medal.

17-year-old Lydia Jakoby stunned everyone by finishing in first place with a time of 1 minute, 4.95 seconds. Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa took home the Silver medal with a time just behind that of Jakoby.

This was supposed to be a battle between Schoenmaker and King for the gold medal, but the young swimmer from Seward, Alaska had other ideas. With the win, Jakoby became the first swimmer from Alaska to win a gold medal.

Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin are the only two US swimmers to win a gold medal in the last 20 years at a younger age than Jakoby. It was always assumed that Jakoby could contend for a medal, but winning gold was never thought of.

After the race was over King said, “I love to see the future of American breaststroke coming up like this and to have somebody to go at it head-to-head in the country.” King immediately swam over and congratulated Jakoby with plenty of excitement after the race results were posted.

King will still have a chance to pick up a gold medal as she will be competing in the 200m breaststroke competition. She is also expected to be a part of the 4×100 meter medley team that will be chosen by the US coaches.

Betting on the Olympics is allowed in Indiana, but the uptake from bettors so far has been relatively small and disappointing.

Men’s Swimmers Upset in the Backstroke

King not winning a gold medal wasn’t the only major story in the pool as the American men also saw an impressive winning streak end. The United States men have dominated the backstroke but that wasn’t the case this time around.

A pair of Russian swimmers took the top two medals in the 100-meter backstroke, pushing Ryan Murphy to the bronze medal. Murphy won this event back in 2016, but he just didn’t have anything left on Tuesday.

The United States had won 12 straight gold medals in the backstroke, dating all the way back to 1992. Murphy swept the two backstroke events at the Rio Olympics, but he came into this race knowing how great the competition was.

Evgeny Rylov came away with the gold medal and it was his teammate, Klement Kolesnikob that finished in second place.

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