Alaskan teenager Lydia Jacoby became an Olympic champion at 100m breaststroke

The 17-year-old American Lydia Jacoby became an Olympic champion at 100m breaststroke after beating the reigning gold medallist Lilly King. This made history, as Lydia Jacoby became the first Olympic gold medallist from Alaska. She was the first swimmer from the state to ever make the US team.

The teenager touched home in 1:04.95 to beat South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker and finish almost a second ahead of Rio 2016 winner King, who took bronze.

“It was crazy”, said Lydia Jacoby. “I was definitely racing for a medal. I knew I had it in me. I wasn’t really expecting a gold medal. When I looked up and saw that scoreboard, it was insane”, added she.

Lydia Jacoby improved her times during the last year and if there was no coronavirus pandemic, possibly she would miss the Olympic games.

Lilly King, who took home the gold five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, celebrated her teammate’s win.