Lydia Jacoby
Lydia Jacoby is so money in the pool she wins without even getting wet.
The breaststroke specialist from Seward did her part to help Team USA strike gold in the women’s 400-meter medley race on the final day of the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Jacoby watched from the sideline as teammates Regan Smith, Lilly King, Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass won Sunday’s final in 3:52.08, followed by Australia in 3:53.37 and Canada in 3:54.12.
The 19-year-old Alaskan earned a medal through her work in two rounds of prelims as the U.S. team qualified with the second-fastest time. But for the finals, the Team USA coaches opted to replace Jacoby with King for the breaststroke.
A few days earlier, Jacoby had beaten King by eight-hundredths of a second to win the bronze medal in the 100 breaststroke final.
Jacoby has been on the other side of a switch like this, and it’s just business.
This was the second medal of these World Championships for Jacoby and her ninth medal of her young international career. It was also her first gold medal since winning Olympic gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Jacoby is entering her sophomore season at the University of Texas, where she won the NCAA title in the 100 breaststroke as a freshman and earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors.