Lilly King Swims World #1, Lazor Swims ANOTHER Personal Best in 100 Breast

2019 BLOOMINGTON PRO SWIM SERIES

• Thursday, May 16 – Sunday, May 19, 2019
• Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, Bloomington, Indiana
• Long course meters (LCM) format
• Eastern Time zone
• Prelims 9 AM / Finals 6 PM (Thursday timed finals 4 PM)
• Meet site
• Live Stream:
  • Prelims & B finals
  • A finals
• Psych sheets
• Live results

Is there such a thing as “taper by osmosis”?

While American swimmer Lilly King was not named in Cody Miller’s latest vlog post specifically as a part of the group of breaststrokers that were doing a taper workout (she did tongue-in-cheek confirm in the comments that she has never tapered), her time in the 100 breaststroke final roared her to the top of the World Rankings.

She swam a 1:05.68, beating out teammate Annie Lazor, who was 2nd in 1:06.03.

That’s very-nearly King’s fastest-ever breaststroke at a non national or international championship meet – a title that currently belongs to the 1:05.61 that she swam at the Pro Swim Series stop in Santa Clara last season. That’s of note, because King’s championship meet swims in the 100 in 2018 weren’t quite as fast as her championship meet swims in 2016 or 2017 (though 2018’s schedule was rough for a lot of big-name swimmers, so for now that’s just a blip, not a trend).

Lazor herself is worthy of extra  mention as she continues her meteoric rise. That swim was a new career-best (she was part of Cody Miller’s taper workout), undercutting the 1:06.66 that she swam in Des Moines. Lately, she’s swimming lifetime bests at every meet (literally – evidence) on an almost-terrifying improvement curve. After no best times in the 100, for example, in 2017 or 2018, she’s undercut her previous PB on 8 occasions in 2019 in the 100 breaststroke in long course. In total, that’s amounted to a 1.83 second improvement this year alone in this event.

Indiana’s breaststorkers are rolling: Cody Miller also swam an in-season lifetime best after injury interrupted his 2018 year.

This women’s 100 breaststroke was full of novelty performances. Besides the rarity of a three-way tie for 3rd place in 1:07.59 for Emily Escobedo, Madisyn Cox, and Bethany Galat, both Escobedo and Cox swam lifetime bests by a full second.

The American women’s breaststroking group, which for a few years had a steep dropoff in depth, is suddenly looking like an American strength with Tokyo approaching.