SWIMMING: She’s the King: Lilly King swims world-leading 50 m Breast at Tyr Pro Swim Series in Bloomington

Olympic and World breaststroke champ Lilly King

With her NCAA career at Indiana now completed, Olympic and World champ Lilly King has time for events like the Tyr Pro Swim Series in her home pool in Bloomington, Indiana. And she took advantage this week with her second world-leading mark on Saturday.

She led from the start to post a 30.03 mark, easily surpassing Russian rival Yuliya Efimova (30.26) to top the world list for 2019. It’s the second world-leading time in two days, as she swam 1:05.68 to top the list in the 100 m Breast on Friday.

Asked if she is aware of the times and where she stands, King smiled and said, “Why shoot for second” Why not get that top time in the world? I try to be as educated as I can about my events and the people I race against.” She’s expected to face Efimova at the third FINA Champions Swim Series meet in Indianapolis in June.

Other stellar performances on Saturday came from 17-year-old Regan Smith, who logged the no. 3 time in the world this year with a 2:06.47 win in the 200 m Backstroke. “It was definitely a surprise,” she said afterwards. “I’m super happy.”

Ella Eastin raced away with the 400 m Medley in a lifetime best of 4:37.18, which places her no. 6 in the world in 2019. In her post-race chat, she explained that she was thinking about the details of her race plan as she went along, but also noted, “It kind of helps to numb the pain when you can think of other things.”

After three of four days in Bloomington, Michael Andrew leads all swimmers with three wins, in the 50 m Back, 50 m Breast and 50 m Fly; Zane Grothe has two distance wins, in the 400 m and 1,500 m Free, and Jay Litherland won the 200 m Fly and impressively swam away from everyone in the 400 m Medley.

In addition to King, two other women have two wins each so far: Katie Ledecky in the 200 m and 400 m Frees, and Smith in the 50 m and 200 m Backs.

Sunday’s meet will only be available online (no NBC television broadcast); for the second day in a row, the live results link did not function during the meet itself. Summaries so far:

USA Swimming/Tyr Pro Swim Series
Bloomington, Indiana (USA) ~ 16-19 May 2019
(Full results here)

Men

100 m Freestyle: 1. Zach Apple, 48.76; 2. Blake Pieroni, 48.86; 3. Robert Howard, 49.09.

200 m Free: 1. Blake Pieroni, 1:47.25; 2. Zane Grothe, 1:47.90; 3. Apple, 1:49.49.

400 m Free: 1. Grothe, 3:48.27; 2. Felix Auboeck (AUT), 3:52.69; 3. Johannes Calloni (ITA), 3:54.21.

1,500 m Free: 1. Grothe, 15:17.12; 2. Marcelo Acosta (ESA), 15:28.66; 3. Ricardo Vargas (MEX), 15:30.04.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Michael Andrew 24.91; 2. Grigory Tarasevich (RUS), 25.10; 3. Gabriel Fantoni (BRA), 25.34.

200 m Back: 1. Calloni (ITA) 1:59.01; 2. Jacob Steele, 2:01.29; 3. Zachary Poti, 2:02.12.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Andrew, 27.21; 2. Nic Fink, 27.55; 3. Ian Finnerty, 27.71.

100 m Breast: 1. Cody Miller, 59.24; 2. Andrew, 59.52; 3. Anton McKee (ISL) 1:00.62.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Andrew, 23.40; 2. Luis Martinez (GUA), 23.48; 3. Vini Lanza (BRA), 24.20.

200 m Fly: 1. Jay Litherland, 1:57.99; 2. Corey Gambardella, 1:58.49; 3. Carson Foster, 1:59.32.

400 m Medley: 1. Litherland, 4:14.42; 2. Charlie Swanson, 4:22.64; 3. Daniel Sos (HUN), 4:22.89.

Women

100 m Freestyle: 1. Simone Manuel, 53.65; 2. Mallory Comerford, 54.11; 3. Margo Geer, 54.18.

200 m Free: 1. Katie Ledecky, 1:55.80; 2. Manuel, 1:57.24; 3. Madisyn Cox, 1:58.52.

400 m Free: 1. Ledecky, 3:59.95; 2. Cox, 4:10.21; 3. Brooke Forde, 4:11.91.

1,500 m Free: 1. Hannah Moore, 16:11.42; 2. Kristel Kobrich (CHI), 16:23.19; 3. Becca Mann, 16:25.49.

50 m Backstroke: 1. Regan Smith, 28.08; 2. Kylee Alons 28.21; 3. Elisa Haan, 28.37.

200 m Back: 1. Smith, 2:06.47; 2, Isabelle Stadden, 2:09.10; 3. Asia Seidt, 2:09.99.

50 m Breaststroke: 1. Lilly King, 30.03; 2. Annie Lazor, 31.01; 3. Olivia Calegan, 31.31.

100 m Breast: 1. King, 1:05.68; 2. Lazor, 1:06.03; 3. tie, Emily Esbobedo, Cox and Bethany Galat, 1:07.59.

50 m Butterfly: 1. Sarah Gibson, 26.52; 2. Katie Drabot, 26.66; 3. Aly Tetzloff, 26.97.

200 m Fly: 1. Drabot, 2:08.57; 2,. R. Smith, 2:08.58; 3. Ella Eastin, 2:09.92.

400 m Medley: 1. Eastin, 4:37.18; 2. Cox, 4:41.14; 3. Makayla Sargent, 4:41.33.