Tag: Lydia Jacoby

Watch Lydia Jacoby’s fans in Alaska go absolutely wild as she wins Olympic gold

What a moment.

It was a historic day for Lydia Jacoby and the state of Alaska.

The 17-year-old Team USA swimmer won gold in the 100m breaststroke final, defeating world record-holder Lilly King in the process.

It was an incredible moment both in Tokyo and back home, where cameras were on during a watch party filled with Jacoby’s family and friends in Seward. As you’d imagine, they all went absolutely nuts with joy watching the first Alaskan Olympic swimmer winning gold.

Seriously. This is such a fantastic moment and video. I’ve watched about a dozen times and it gets better every time. So good.

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17-year-old Alaskan swimmer Lydia Jacoby stunned Lilly King, swimming world with 100 breaststroke gold

Lydia Jacoby won Olympic gold!

Lydia Jacoby is the first swimmer from Alaska to compete at the Olympics, and the 17 year old shocked the women’s 100-meter breaststroke field Tuesday morning in Tokyo (Monday night in the U.S.).

She shot to the front of the field at the very end of the intense 100 breaststroke and won gold ahead of South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker and fellow American and world record-holder Lilly King.

After the first 50 meters, Schoenmaker and King had control of the race and were 1-2 going into the turn, as King trailed by .30 seconds. But Jacoby was right there with them in third and behind Schoenmaker by just .33 seconds.

Even by the 75-meter mark, it looked like Schoenmaker and King would battle it out for gold and silver. And then Jacoby absolutely surged.

With long, gliding strokes, Jacoby — who’s also just the second Alaska native to compete in the Summer Games in any event, per NBC — out-paced Schoenmaker and King in the final 25 and pulled ahead in the final few meters for a wild finish. She out-touched Schoenmaker by .27 seconds.

Jacoby’s gold medal-winning time was 1:04.95, with  going 1:05.22 and King — who won the 100 breaststroke gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics — putting up 1:05.54.

King’s world record is 1:04.13, and Schoenmaker set the event’s Olympic record in prelims at 1:04.82.

And even Jacoby’s reaction made it seem like she stunned herself too.

After the race when NBC asked Jacoby how she pulled out the win, she said:

“I don’t know. I definitely stretched myself out yesterday, so I was just trying to feel good, feel healthy going into it.”

As the gold- and bronze-medal winners were interviewed by NBC, King praised her teammate and said: “This kid just had the swim of her life.”

Jacoby’s many fans in Alaska also had a delightfully priceless reaction to her gold-medal swim.

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