Lilly King wins 100m breaststroke in world championships trials preview

When Lilly King took bronze in the Olympic 100m breaststroke, it marked the first time another swimmer out-touched her in nearly five years in the event, snapping a 55-final win streak.

King, who then took silver in her complementary 200m breast, left Tokyo and went back to work in Indiana. It paid off on Thursday in her first meet in an Olympic-size pool since the Games.

She won the 100m breast in 1:06.24 at a Pro Series stop in Westmont, Illinois, beating a field that included surprise Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby and training partner Annie Lazor, who was fourth-fastest in the world last year. Lazor was second on Thursday, .24 behind, followed by Jacoby.

“Not too bad,” King said on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA. “Not super aware of what was going to happen at this meet with it being our first long-course meet of the season, but I’m pretty happy with that time.”

PRO SWIM SERIES: Full Results

The results in Westmont are the best indicator so far in 2022 of prospects for the world championships trials in late April in Greensboro, N.C., where the top two per individual event are in line to qualify for June’s worlds in Budapest. However, swimmers are at different points in their training with some more rested than others.

The 100m breast is one of the strongest events for Americans with King, Jacoby and Lazor. At least one of them will not make the world team in the event.

In other Thursday finals, Katie Ledecky won the 400m freestyle in 4:01.30, distancing 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Leah Smith by 3.43 seconds. Ledecky, who after Tokyo moved from Stanford to Gainesville, Florida, last lost a domestic 400m free at the 2012 Olympic Trials.

Shaine Casas won the men’s 100m free in 49.29 seconds, beating a field that