U.S. International Team Trials: Lilly King Claims Lane Four for 100 Breast Final, Seeking Third Win
It has been a productive week thus far in Greensboro for Lilly King as she edged out Kate Douglass and Annie Lazor to capture the title in the 200 breaststroke before fending off Kaitlyn Dobler for the 50 breast title. Now, King will go for the sweep of all three breaststroke events after she finished first in the 100 breast prelims Friday morning. King swam a time of 1:06.20, three-quarters of a second clear of the field. King currently ranks second in the world in the event at 1:05.32, and she will be in hot pursuit of Reona Aoki’s world-leading mark of 1:05.19 in the final.
Dobler, the NCAA champion in the 100-yard breaststroke last month, placed second in prelims at 1:06.95, while Lazor was third in 1:07.05. Lazor was the Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 breast in Tokyo, but she will not compete in that event at the World Championships after placing third earlier in the meet.
Nine months after stunning the world by capturing Olympic gold in the 100 breast ahead of King and Tatjana Schoenmaker, Lydia Jacoby will attempt to make her first World Championships team in this event. She will swim in lane six in the final after she won her prelims heat in 1:07.58. Another 2021 U.S. Olympian, Alex Walsh, will race in the final of an off-event after she swam a time of 1:07.96 in the morning for the fifth-best qualifying mark.
Ohio State’s Hannah Bach (1:08.37), Virginia’s Anna Keating (1:08.89) and Indiana’s Mackenzie Looze (1:08.93) also earned spots in the final.
Links:
