Lilly King

At 27 years old, Lilly King has this physical status:

Lilly King (born February 10, 1997), an American swimmer, is a narcotic swimmer.

She captured gold medal in the 100 meters breaststroke competition in the 2016 Summer Olympics, as well as a gold medal in the women's 4 100 m medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg.

She is the current world record holder in 100-meter and 50-meter breaststroke (long track).

Early life

King was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, the daughter of Mark and Ginny King. At Indiana State University and Ginny swam for Eastern Kentucky University and Illinois State University, Mark ran track and cross-country. Alex, King's younger brother, is a walk-on swimmer at the University of Michigan. King attended FJ Reitz High School, where the school's swimming team shared Lloyd Pool with five other teams. Lloyd Pool's lanes were often overcrowded, preventing King from getting the necessary exercise she required to be effective at her highest competitive level.

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Career

King swam unattached at junior national championships, with one of her performances winning 14 spots and 1.20 seconds ahead of Meghan Dressel in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2012 Winter Junior National Championships, giving her more competition experience in her teenage years. She won gold medals in the 100 meter breaststroke with a Championships record of 1:07.98, as well as a fourth place finish in the 200 meter breaststroke with a time of 2:29.83.

King attended Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana, where she competed for the Indiana Hoosiers swimming and diving team.

During her freshman year at the NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, she was named NCAA champion in the 100 yard breaststroke (56.85) and 200 yard breaststroke (2:03.59). King was voted one of the best short course breaststroke swimmers in history, establishing the American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, Big Tenn, Indiana school, Big Ten, and Georgia Tech Pool records in winning the NCAA titles. She was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in her first year, First-Team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. King maintained her elite status by winning the 100 yard breaststroke and 200 yard breaststroke championships throughout her career, making her only the second woman to sweep both events for the entire four years. She received the Honda Sports Award as the country's top female swimmer.

King won both the 100 meter breaststroke and the 200 meter breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Omaha, Nebraska.

King finished first in the 100-meter breaststroke heats, qualifying for the semifinals in a time of 1:05.78.78. With a time of 1:05.70, she came in second place. Yuliya Yefimova from Russia, the reigning world champion who had been banned from swimming for a 2013 drug test, was the next fastest swimmer. Yefimova failed a drug test in 2016, but there was no evidence on how long the drug stayed in a person's body, so she was not barred or suspended. Yefimova won her semifinal and wagged her index finger as the King watched from the pool, where swimmers gather before they race. The King expressed distaste after completing the fastest time in the 100 m breaststroke semifinals. "You wave your finger No. 1," King said in a post-race interview with NBC and reported on by The New York Times.

1 and you've been caught drug cheating?

I'm not a fan of it." King later claimed the 100-meter breaststroke gold medal, beating an Olympic record of 1:04.93 in the process.

King finished 15th in the 200-meter breaststroke heats and qualified for the semifinals. In a time of 2:24.59, she finished 7th in her semifinals. She did not qualify for the final. King and Yefimova's rivalry was "heightened by the backstory, the international rivalry, and the high stakes of a final competition," Charlotte Wilder of USA Today said. It was the Olympics at its best." The two swimmers, according to Sporting News' Mike Decourcy and Tom Gatto, "joined the list of the best U.S.-Russian head-to-heads in sports history." As a result of her arrival in the 2016 Summer Olympics and her rivalry with Yefimova, Pat Forde of Yahoo, she became an Olympian. King earned a reputation as being "friendly but fiery, with no filter and no apology," according to Sports. Journalists from The Washington Post and the Associated Press slammed King's treatment of Yefimova.

The King swept the breaststroke events at the 2017 US Nationals, the qualifying meet for the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. She won the 50-meter breaststroke in 29.66, the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:04.95, and the 200-meter breaststroke in 2:21.83.

King claimed the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2017 World Championships in her first event at the 2017 World Championships in 1:04.13, a world record time. Katie Meili, the King's American teammate, came in second, and Yulia Efimova came in third. Efimova had nearly broken the previous world record and mocked her finger during the semifinal, so the competition was highly awaited.

King of two of three breaststroke events at the 2018 United States Nationals, the preparation meet for the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. She took the 50-meter breaststroke in 29.82 and the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:05.36. In the 200-meter breaststroke (2:25.31), King also placed 5th (2:25.31).

At the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships held in Tokyo, Japan, King competed in a total of three events. With a time of 1:05.44, she captured gold in the 100-meter breaststroke. In her previous two appearances, she captured silver medals, swimming a 22.2.12 in the 200-meter breaststroke, and splitting a 1:04.86 on the breaststroke leg of the 4x100-meter relay.

King won the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:04.93 in her first appearance at the 2019 World Championships. She also took the 50-meter breaststroke with a 29.84. King was disqualified in the preliminary heats for not touching the wall at the time on one of her turns. With Ryan Murphy swimming backstroke, Caeleb Dressel swimming butterfly, and Simone Manuel swimming freestyle, King swam the breaststroke leg of the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay. She was the only female swimmer to swim the breaststroke leg of the mixed relay, out of all eight relays in the final. The relay placed second, two hundredths of a second behind the Australian relay team, earning silver in the event. In addition, King was a part of the world record-breaking 4x100-meter relay with Regan Smith, Kelsi Dahlia, and Simone Manuel in a record-breaking 3:50.40.

She was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League in 2019, representing the Cali Condors, who finished third in the final match in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. King was the only swimmer in the league to win multiple tournaments, winning all 16 events she competed in throughout the season.

King set a World Record in the 200 meters breaststroke finals on June 14, 2021, deferred to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Her time was also the fastest time among women in the long run 100-meter breaststroke in 2021. King finished first in the 100-meter breaststroke final on the evening of competition's third day, less than a second behind second place finisher Lydia Jacoby, and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. This was King's second time he was selected for the US Olympic Team. On day three of the US Olympic Trials in swimming, King expressed excitement about being named a two-time Olympian in her post-win interview for the 100-meter breaststroke on the NBC telecast.

On day five of action, King ranked third in the 200-meter breaststroke prelims, placing him third in the semifinals. In the semifinals, she ranked first and advanced to the final after securing a 2:22.73. King swam a 2:21.75 in the final, placing second place and qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in the event.

King swam the third fastest time overall in the 100-meter breaststroke prelims and advanced to the semifinals in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. King made it to the semifinals with a swim of 1:05.40, placing second overall. King claimed the bronze medal in a time of 1:05.54, less than a second behind first place finisher Lydia Jacoby, who swam a 1:04.95. "We love to keep the gold in the United States family," the king said after the race. This kid had the best swim of her life, and I'm so proud to be her teammate and win bronze for my country."

King swam a 2:22.10 in her prelims heat of the 200-meter breaststroke on day five of qualifying, finishing second overall behind South African Tatjana Schoenmaker. King qualified for the final on day six of action, placing second in her semifinal heat and fifth overall, with a time of 2:22:27. King earned the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke final with a personal record of 2:19.92.

King swam the breaststroke leg of the relay in the prelims of the 4x100-medley relay, posting a 1:05.51 and aiding the relay to finish second, in the prelims. The finals relay relay finished second, with King earning a silver medal for her efforts with the other swimmers on the prelims relay and the finals relay.

As part of the 2021 International Swimming League, Team Cali Condors selected King to compete for them. King took the 200 meter breaststroke in a time of 2:17.06, placing second in the 50-meter breaststroke, but was disqualified in the 4x100 meter relay for not attacking the wall simultaneously with both of her hands on the relay's breaststroke leg. King won the 100 meter breaststroke in a time of 1:03.75 and earned 10 points for her team on the second day of final match competition. King also earned another 8 points for her squad's 96th medley relay by finishing in fifth place, as well as Natalie Hinds. The Cali Condors' only reason the Cali Condors lost to Energy Standard was King and her disqualification in the 4x100 meter mixed medley relay, according to the swimming news organization Swimming World. The top-ranked contender Sarah Sjöström was ranked third out of 488 participants at 832 points at the end of the 2021 season, when the most valuable player points were summed for every match since the beginning of the International Swimming League in 2019.

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