Lilly King sweeps breaststrokes at swimming trials; Lydia Jacoby edged out of worlds spot

Lilly King completed a sweep of the breaststrokes at the world swimming championships trials, while fellow gold medalist Lydia Jacoby missed a spot on the world team by nine hundredths of a second.

King, the 2016 Olympic champion and world-record holder, won the 100m breast in 1:05.67 in Greensboro, N.C., on Friday night. She previously won the 50m and 200m breast events, setting up a busy schedule at June’s worlds in Budapest.

She’s joined on the world team by training partner Annie Lazor, who made it in her last shot after placing third in her primary event, the 200m breast, earlier this week. Lazor, who was .45 behind King, edged NCAA champion Kaitlyn Dobler of USC by .07 and Jacoby by .09 for the second and final spot on the world team in the 100m breast.

“In every breaststroke race, it seems like the top three in the world are the top three in the U.S.,” said King, who took bronze in Tokyo and ranks second in the world this year behind Reona Aoki of Japan. “It’s pretty crazy and getting a lot more competitive than it used to be.”

The worlds field will be without Olympic silver medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa, who is prioritizing the Commonwealth Games later this summer. The fourth- and fifth-place finishers from the Olympics are both from Russia, so they’ll be absent, too, due to the nation’s ban.

U.S. SWIMMING TRIALS: Results | Broadcast Schedule

KING & LAZOR!@_king_lil and @lazorlaze hug it out after finishing 1-2 in the women's 100m breaststroke and qualify for the event at the world championships.@USASwimming x #Phillips66SwimTrials pic.twitter.com/obqg7dqtrv

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) April 29, 2022

Jacoby, the Alaska high schooler who stunned for 100m breast gold in Tokyo, took third, fourth