{"id":262417,"date":"2017-06-26T12:24:07","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T19:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=262417"},"modified":"2017-06-26T14:01:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T21:01:07","slug":"lilly-king-ready-to-respond-to-efimova-challenge-in-100-breast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/lilly-king-ready-to-respond-to-efimova-challenge-in-100-breast\/","title":{"rendered":"(Video) Lilly King Ready to Respond to Efimova’s Challenge in 100 Breast"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rieder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lilly King<\/strong> is not the type of swimmer who always stays in her own lane. Whenever she feels like she has a serious challenger in a race, she steps up.<\/p>\n

When she knows a race won\u2019t be super competitive, she has been known to fall flat\u2014like at this year\u2019s NCAA championships, when she won the 100-yard breast by 1.3 seconds. She didn\u2019t break her own American record in the event, and when asked to assess her performance, King said that it \u201csucked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year at this time I went 56.8, and we were all going crazy. Tonight I went 56.7? I don\u2019t know\u2014I just know it was slow,\u201d she said that night. \u201cI was out slow, and I was back slow. It was what it was. I wasn\u2019t really feeling it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming in seeded so far ahead of the field, King had no real rival to chase. Not an issue she had at her first Olympics in Rio, when she found one quickly and turned the rivalry into international news.<\/p>\n

\"FINA

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport \/ MIA Rossiya Segodnya<\/p><\/div>\n

Before last summer, Russian breaststroker Yulia Efimova<\/strong><\/a> had been twice suspended for positive doping tests, leaving her status for Rio in flux for months. Finally, she had been cleared to compete less than 24 hours before the Olympic swimming competition began.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that this controversy going on in the sport right now,\u201d King said after the 100 breast semi-finals in Rio. \u201cIt was the IOC\u2019s decision (to allow Efimova to compete), and I\u2019m going to respect that decision, even if it\u2019s something I don\u2019t agree with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, King won gold, and Efimova settled for silver. But as the two prepare to meet again in the 100 breast this summer at the World Championships, Efimova has the upper-hand in the times department.<\/p>\n

At the Mare Nostrum meet in Canet, Efimova blasted a 1:04.82 in the 100 breast, quicker than the 1:04.93 King swam to win gold in Rio. Earlier on the Mare Nostrum circuit, Efimova had swum a 2:19.83 in the 200 breast, becoming the first woman to break 2:20 this year.<\/p>\n

King will have her chance to respond in the pool at this week\u2019s U.S. Nationals, and she is eager to do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love competition, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m in the sport,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a point to having a rivalry if we\u2019re going to go back and forth. I love to see people put fast times up, and I love trying to beat them the week after. Hopefully, I\u2019ll have a good swim, be 1:04, a little bit lower than she went, but we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Efimova\u2019s effort in the 100 breast now makes her the slight favorite for the event come Budapest, King would be more than okay with that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really been a change this last year, going from being the underdog pretty much my whole career to being not the underdog,\u201d she said. \u201cThen when people put up faster times than me, I go back to being the underdog. It\u2019s very familiar territory for me, and I like having that extra pressure, having that person to chase.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week at Nationals, the pressure will be on King to match or surpass her Russian rival. Come Worlds, the pressure will be on from a lane or two over. And if the world has learned anything about Lilly King over the past 12 months, those are the situations she relishes, the situations where she shines.<\/p>\n

Watch a full replay of King’s pre-meet press conference at U.S. Nationals:<\/strong><\/p>\n