100 metres Breaststroke, Women

American Lilly King and Russian Yuliya Yefimova had gone 1-2 in this event at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and were still considered the favorites. Yefimova had won the 2019 World Championship at 200 metres but did not have the fastest times in 2021 in the 100. King had won the US Olympic Trials over young high schooler Lydia Jacoby, and they had the fastest times of the year, followed by Sweden’s Sophie Hansson and South African Tatjana Schoenmaker.

Those five all qualified easily for the final. Schoenmaker took the early lead in the final, followed by King and Jacoby as Yefimova never factored in the medal chase. Coming home, Jacoby surprised everybody by finishing the fastest and taking gold. Schoenmaker hung on for second with King getting the bronze medal.

Jacoby had been touted as the first American Olympic swimmer from the state of Alaska, not exactly a hotbed of swimming talent. A student at Seward High School, she had committed to swim at the University of Texas in 2022 but had been home schooled in 2020-21 for much of the pandemic year, as she also struggled to find places to swim in Alaska during that time.

Three days after the final of this event, Schoenmaker would win the 200 breaststroke with a world record, as King took silver. Jacoby and King would both win silver medals in the women’s medley relay, as King swam the heats and Jacoby the final.