The queen of the 100-meter breaststroke is looking to expand her reign to the 200 breast.
Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby posted a personal-best time in the 200 to pull away from 2020 European champion Sophie Hansson and win gold at the 22nd annual Mare Nostrum Swim Tour in Monaco.
The 18-year-old Alaskan also won gold in her specialty, the 100 breast, the event she won at last summer’s Olympics.
Jacoby hasn’t matched her times in the 100 from the Tokyo Games, but she keeps improving in the 200.
Last month she posted a then-PR of 2:26.60 at the U.S. International Team Trials. She went faster in Monaco, where she popped a blistering 2:25.98 to win gold.
Hansson, who won five medals at Worlds last year, was neck and neck with Jacoby at the halfway point of the 200 before the Alaskan dropped the hammer in the second half of the race to defeat Hansson by a half-second.
Jacoby (second from left) on the 200 podium. Photo by Mare Nostrum Swim Tour
In the 100, Jacoby went head-to-head against Hansson again but it was South Africa’s Lara Van Niekerk who proved to be her biggest challenger.
Van Niekerk, the African record holder in the 50 breast, led Jacoby 30.91 to 31.54 at the turn, but once again Jacoby closed like a champ and beat Van Niekerk 35.01 to 35.69 in the second half of the race to touch the wall first.
Jacoby still has the 50 breast to swim in the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour and will do that Thursday when the competition moves to Barcelona.
She just missed making the Worlds team, making this tour one of her only international competitions this summer before she enrolls at the University of Texas for her freshman year.
Jacoby (second from left) on the 100 podium. Photo by Mare Nostrum Swim Tour