NANTERRE, France — One-hundredth of a second is no measurement of Lilly King's Indiana or U.S. swimming legacy.
She missed by .01 of becoming the second woman ever to win three Olympic medals in the 100-meter breaststroke, tying for fourth Monday night at Paris La Defense Arena.
The 27-year-old Indiana University graduate from Evansville has not won a global gold medal in her signature event since the 2019 World Championships.
She took bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, then placed fourth at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. Now, fourth again.
She has held the world record of 1:04.13 since the 2017 worlds.
“I know this race happened three years ago, and it completely broke me,” she said. “And I don’t feel broken tonight.
“So it’s one where I’m really still proud of the work that I’ve put in and the girls I’ve been able to help in the sport and hopefully the influence I’ve been able to have on younger swimmers.”
At Tokyo, Alaskan Lydia Jacoby was the surprise gold medalist, followed by Tatjana (Schoenmaker) Smith of South Africa and King.
Smith, also 27, won the gold this time in 1:05.28. China’s Tang Qianting was silver medalist in 1:05.54.
Ireland’s Mona McSharry took bronze in 1:05.59, or .01 ahead of King and Italy’s 19-year-old Benedetta Pilato.
King’s time was 1:05.43 in winning the Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The only woman to win three Olympic medals in this event was Australia’s Leisel Jones in 2000, 2004 and 2008.
“I could very easily could have been second,” King said. “And I ended up tied for fourth. That’s just kind of the luck of the draw in this race.”
She was seventh at 50 meters, closed on the leaders, but “kind of fell part that last 10 meters,” she said.
She is not the dominant breaststroker she once was, although she won gold in the 200 in 2022 and silver in the 50 (a non-Olympic event) in 2023 at World Championships.
“I was feeling in a really good place tonight and just wanted to go out there and take in the moment and enjoy the process," King said, "which I definitely wasn’t doing three years ago.”
She has stated Paris will be her last Olympics, although this was not her last Olympic race. She has heats and semifinals of the 200 breaststroke Wednesday, the final Thursday, and later the 4x100 medley relay.
She famously won the 100 breaststroke gold medal at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, beating Russian rival Yulia Efimova.
King is the second American to make three Olympic teams in the 100 breaststroke. The other is Amanda Beard, who swam breaststroke at four Olympics (1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008).
During the Olympic Trials, she became engaged to boyfriend James Wells, 32, a former IU swimmer from Phippsburg, Maine.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.