Twitter lost its mind on Monday night as Lydia Jacoby captured the Olympic gold medal in the women’s 100 m breaststroke.
17-year-old Lydia Jacoby surged in the second half of the women’s 100 m breaststroke final to take home Olympic gold for Team USA.
Jacoby was behind at the turn but powered her way past South African Tatjana Schoenmaker to touch the wall first in 1:04.95. Fellow American and world record holder Lilly King finished third in her attempt to defend her Olympic title.
Even Jacoby herself looked to be in shock after the best swim of her young career and what could be one of the biggest upsets in Olympic swimming this summer. The teenager knocked three seconds off her personal best time in June just to even qualify for the US Olympic swim team. That’s eons in a 100 m race at this level. A month later, she’s an Olympic champion.
Reactions to Lydia Jacoby Olympics gold medal win are amazing
Of course, Twitter absolutely lost it.
How tall is Lydia Jacoby?
Lydia Jacoby is listed at 5-foot-10, according to her Olympics profile.
Jacoby is the first Olympic swimmer and only the tenth American summer Olympian ever to be born in Alaska. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her coach had to get creative with her training routine up in the Last Frontier.
https://twitter.com/JeffEisenband/status/1419848740815396870?s=20
The video of the watch party at the railroad terminal in Jacoby’s hometown of Seward, AK – population 2,773 (2019) – was simply the best.
Notably, there is only one 50 m swimming pool in the entire state of Alaska. Given all the kids who are watching Jacoby’s performance at her debut Olympics, we wouldn’t be surprised if that changes in the next few years.