Lilly King feels empathetic toward Lydia Jacoby. Despite being fierce rivals, King has always wanted the fire to keep burning between her and Jacoby. It all started back in Tokyo when Lydia Jacoby beat King to clinch the 100m Olympic gold. Thus, coming into the US Olympic trials, Jacoby was expected to retain her sublime form and clinch her ticket to Paris. However, it didn’t turn out as planned. 

Not only did Lydia Jacoby fail to clinch a top-two spot at the trials, but Jacoby narrowly missed out on Emma Webber, sending the swimming fans in disbelief. But even in her darkest times, Lydia has the support of Lilly King. 

King has been the undisputed swimming queen of the US since her 2016 gold. She is also the current holder of the national and world record in the 100m discipline. Thus, when Lydia Jacoby upturned the table in Tokyo, she became quite the craze among the swimming fraternity. What was even bewildering was the fact that King finished third behind the South African Tatjana Schoenmaker to settle for bronze. 

But come the US trials, Jacoby fizzled out whereas Lilly King was seen sublime, totally in her elements. And while she did face a heartbreak in Tokyo, King reached out to Lydia with utmost sympathy. Speaking about her loss, King stated, “My heart absolutely breaks for her…I hope she can move forward from this.”

Lydia Jacoby clocked a time of 1:06.37s to finish third. Surprisingly, Emma Webber, who didn’t qualify for Tokyo, got the second place at 1:06.10s. Lilly King took the pole position as expected, as she was above the rest by some margin. Her time read 1:05.43s. Meanwhile, as Jacoby’s story ended on a somber note, while Hunter Armstrong made quite a fairytale comeback.

Hunter Armstrong scripts a valiant comeback 

When the heats of the 100m backstroke concluded, nobody gave Hunter Armstrong a chance. He finished last and was staring down a possible exit from the list of Paris Olympic probables. However, getting in all the grit and determination required, Armstrong looked resilient as he overcame the odds to clinch a second-place finish. While he still has to replicate his sublime form in the finals, things are definitely looking bright for Armstrong. 

After clocking 53.57s, a radiant Armstrong stated, “I typically don’t think while I’m in the water… I think the minute you become conscious when you’re swimming is when you slow down. But the very first thing to go through my mind when I immediately just back-flopped into the water was how can I recover from this because I need another shot tomorrow.” Well, as Hunter Armstrong looking as confident as ever, it will be interesting to see whether or not he can confirm his tryst with Paris.