2020 Olympic swimming champion Lydia Jacoby was nice enough to let SwimSwam drop-in on her and her teammates at the Seward Tsunami Swim Club. Coleman Hodges made the trip to Alaska in the dead of winter capturing a lot b-roll footage at the pool, in the gym, and more. (Expect a day-in-the-life with Lydia coming soon.)
Like a lot of elite swimmers, Lydia clearly felt a little disheartened by the off and on announcements about World Championships. We caught up with Lydia shortly after FINA confirmed the event this summer in Budapest, and, yes, she’s aiming for her first long course meters world title. Will she be gunning for Lilly King‘s 100m breaststroke world record (1:04.13)? Lydia didn’t say it outright, but she did signal that she’s training for a PB, and a PB could be a new world mark.
Catch Lydia in action this week at the Pro Swim Series stop in Chicago (Westmont). I’m holding off on the prediction game until after the Pro Swim races, but, please, drop in your predictions in the comments if you like.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
If there’s one thing we know about Lilly it’s that she is definitely not the type to just freely pass the torch over after one loss. Now that she has a domestic rival, maybe this will inspire her to dip down into the low 1:04’s near her WR again like back when she had Efimova to fuel her competitive fire.
Good!
Why are Red Heads so good at breaststroke?
Because both redheads and breaststrokers are build different
I bet she’ll win the world title at 1:04.54, and I predict she will make the worlds team in the 200 breaststroke. Her race strategy is so much like a 200, I don’t think she’s even begin to scratch the surface of her potential
I say she goes somewhere around 1:05.5 to make the team, or is between 1:06.36-1:07.12 and misses the team altogether. Nothing against Lydia, just my feeling. I hope she proves me wrong, winning gold at such a young age can be difficult but I think she’s got a great system around her so my prediction is probably way off.
Winning a gold medal at your first big international meet sets the bar super high. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders and excited to see what she will accomplish this year!
…we will know soon, International Team Trials are less than 7 weeks away. (This year is moving fast!)
Great interview – she’s wise beyond her years! Very glad she is not letting the moments get bigger than what she is capable of handling. Very mature.
And well done, Mel! Flying all the way to Alaska to get that interview – chasing Coleman Hodges for interviewer of the year 2022!
….looking forward to his DAY-IN-THE-LIFE with her.
Bet Lilly is loving this headline.
Lilly loves competition…as she should. This should be interesting Olympic cycle, 2022-24.
It’ll be interesting to see how she responds now that she’s been beaten by someone who didn’t give a flip about her mind games that she thought were such an advantage. It’s like a trash talker going after Tim Duncan — not going to end well.
…I’m a big, big Lilly King fan….mostly because when you ask Lilly what she’s thinking, she shares, let’s you inside. Most elite just don’t respond (which I fully understand). Lilly being Lilly makes swimming more interesting and exciting to watch.