U.S. Olympic Trials: Lilly King Headed to Third Games in 100 Breast; Emma Weber Edges Lydia Jacoby

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials: Lilly King Headed to Third Games in 100 Breast; Emma Weber Edges Lydia Jacoby

An Olympic Trials final that features the last two Olympic champions is never going to be exactly easy. Even by those standards, Monday’s women’s 100 breaststroke provided a shock.

Home-state hero Lilly King is headed to her third Olympics, but the second spot went to Emma Weber, who pulled a surprise to get her spot on the plane to Paris.

King pulled away in 1:05.43, then ran into the stands to hug family and friends in her home state. Second was Weber, who poured it on late. She went 1:06.10 to rise from third to second.

“I think I basked in it a little more than I have in the past, just being here in Indy and also with it being my last Trials,” said King, who said she dealt with a little bit of nerves before the swim. “It was just a great night overall.”

That means that the reigning Olympic champion, Lydia Jacoby, isn’t going to Paris to defend her title. Nor is Alex Walsh, who opted for the 100 breast.

Jacoby pulled off a shock in 2021 to get to the Olympics, then deepened it with a sensational swim in Tokyo to win gold. The Alaskan native has had her ups and downs in the three years since, but as a national champion in the 100 breast at Texas last year, she’s established herself on the national scene, even though her pure swimming ability has long made her more at home in the longer pool.

She came on strong late, as is her trademark. But it only amounted to third in 1:06.37, .27 behind Weber.

“My heart, it just absolutely breaks for her,” King said. “That’s what this meet is. I like to tell people that the key of this meet is don’t get too high and don’t get too low. As emotionally invested as I am in Lydia, it’s really, really hard to watch and move forward from that. But on the flip side, what a performance from Emma Weber.

“That’s how this meet rolls. It will make your career or break your career in a minute. It’s the hardest meet in the world. It’s a lot harder than the Olympic, in my opinion.”

Weber was greeted in the pool not just with the smiles of King but of two UVA teammate, Walsh and Ella Nelson, who finished eighth. Kaelyn Gridley of Duke finished fifth.

“I’m actually at a loss for words right now,” Weber said. “I looked up, and I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s right.’ It’s an amazing feeling. It’s a tribute to my whole team because I couldn’t have done it without the UVA girls. It’s amazing.”

It’s the first of Walsh’s three swims, with the 200 breast and 200 IM (she’s the second seed in that), still to come.

King, at 27, is an Olympian for the third time. The Evansville native basked in the home-state adulation. For Weber, a rising senior from Denver, Colorado, it’s her first senior national team.

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