{"id":476711,"date":"2021-06-14T17:50:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T00:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=476711"},"modified":"2021-06-14T21:49:36","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T04:49:36","slug":"u-s-olympic-trials-lilly-king-crushes-104-72-100-breast-annie-lazor-records-second-fastest-time-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-olympic-trials-lilly-king-crushes-104-72-100-breast-annie-lazor-records-second-fastest-time-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials: Lilly King Crushes 1:04.72 100 Breast, Annie Lazor Records Second Fastest Time in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Olympic Trials: Lilly King Crushes 1:04.72 100 Breast, Annie Lazor Records Second Fastest Time in the World<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lilly King<\/strong> was already the overwhelming favorite for Olympic gold in the women’s 100 breast<\/a>, entering the summer as the defending Olympic gold medalist, two-time world champion and world record-holder, and she further extended her margin with a brilliant semifinal performance. King went out in 30.13 and then swam her way to a 1:04.72, the fastest time recorded in the event since King set the world record of 1:04.13 back in 2017. The time was the eighth-quickest performance in history, with only King, Ruta Meilutyte<\/strong>, Yulia Efimova<\/strong> and Jessica Hardy<\/strong> having ever been quicker.<\/p>\n

But just as notable was the second-place finisher in the heat.\u00a0Annie Lazor<\/strong>, King’s training partner at Indiana, swam a 1:05.37 to clobber her previous best time of 1:05.92 (set earlier in the day in prelims). Lazor moved to second in the world rankings, well ahead of previous world No. 2 Sophie Hansson<\/strong> of Sweden (1:05.69), and she became the 10th-fastest performer ever in the event.<\/p>\n

“I haven\u2019t been under 1:04.9 since 2017. It\u2019s been a long road and I\u2019m really happy with that. Training is paying off,” King said. “<\/span>My plan was to take off and hold on for dear life, and I knew Annie was next to me having a good swim, and I just wanted to race her.”<\/span><\/p>\n

King and Lazor are rounding into form at the right time, and the two will be favored in the 200 breast<\/a> later in the week in addition to this 100 breast final.<\/p>\n

“It is just like practice every day. I pushed it but still think I have more in me,” Lazor said. “(King) <\/span>is the one who has pushed me the past few years. We have something cool that we both want to do this summer, and we want to do it together.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first semifinal, veteran\u00a0Bethany Galat<\/strong> held the top seed after cracking 1:06 for the first time in the morning prelims, and she held an early lead in the heat before 17-year-old\u00a0Lydia Jacoby<\/strong> ran her down and took the lead down the stretch. Jacoby ended up touching in 1:05.71, crushing her previous best time of 1:06.38<\/a> from earlier this year and moving her to fourth in the world rankings behind King, Lazor and Hansson. Galat took second in the heat in 1:05.96. The Americans will already own four of the top six times in the world heading into the event final.<\/p>\n

“I feel great. I\u2019m so excited. That\u2019s a great place for where I want to be tomorrow,” Jacoby said. On being an elite swimmer from Alaska, Jacoby said, “<\/span>It\u2019s been amazing to be able to represent such a great group of people. We are closer than a lot of LSCs because we have a small amount of people and I hope I made them proud.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Four other swimmers qualified for the final between 1:07.03 and 1:07.28.\u00a0Molly Hannis<\/strong>, a 2016 Olympian in the 200 breast, initially qualified for the final after recording a 1:07-low, but she was disqualified, opening the door for\u00a0Kaitlyn Dobler<\/strong> to move up and claim lane eight for her first Olympic Trials final.<\/p>\n