Only a week after failing to reach the podium in the 100-meter breaststroke, Indiana alumnus Lilly King is on top of the world — literally.
Alongside Regan Smith, Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske, King won the gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay, while also breaking the world record with their time of 3:49.63.
King, who entered the 2024 Paris Olympic Games stating they would be her last, had a disappointing result in the 100-meter breaststroke, finishing tied for fourth in the medal race. Followed up by an eighth-place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke semifinal, King looked to add to her gold medal count in the last race of her Olympic career.
Smith led off the race with backstroke, taking an early lead for the Americans and putting them on pace to break the world record set in 2019. King was up next, and by the end of her 100 meters, the lead had increased from .44 seconds to 2.65.
Walsh continued with butterfly and Huske finished with freestyle, never relinquishing the lead and breaking the world record by .77 seconds.
King’s gold adds to the growing list of IU representatives to achieve a medal, joining Indiana alum Blake Pieroni and rising senior Anna Peplowski. With her Olympic career now fully behind her, King finishes with three gold medals, two silvers and a bronze in her three appearances in the games since 2016.
