clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

King takes bronze in 100 breaststroke final

Not the finish that the IU product was aiming for after winning gold 5 years ago

By MikeMillerCQ
Swimming - Olympics: Day 4
Lilly King of Team United States competes in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final on day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 27, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

The question going into the women’s 100-meter breaststroke final was whether Lilly King could pass South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker, the woman who bested her twice on Sunday.

As it turned out, Schoenmaker wasn’t the only contender for the gold.

King’s teammate, Lydia Jacoby, shocked the field on Monday night, beating the top-two seeded swimmers in the event final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Jacoby took gold in 1:04.95, followed by Schoenmaker’s silver effort of 1:05.22. King, who was defending her gold from Rio 2016, finished with a time of 1:05.54 to take bronze.

On the bright side for King, she’s just the fifth woman in the history of the event to win multiple Olympic medals, joining Soviet Union’s Galina Prozumenshchikova (1968 silver, 1972 silver), Samantha Riley of Australia (1992 bronze, 1996 bronze), Australia’s Leisel Jones (2000 silver, 2004 bronze, 2008 gold), and Rebecca Soni of the United States (2008 silver, 2012 silver).

King will be back in action in the 200-meter breaststroke, which gets underway with prelims on Wednesday morning at 6:42 a.m. Eastern.

More From The Crimson Quarry