Paris Olympics: Lilly King misses podium by .01 in 100-meter breaststroke

Medal table | Olympic schedule | How to watch | Olympic news

PARIS — Lilly King, confidence shaken, former self distant, fell .01 seconds short of a medal here at the 2024 Olympics on Monday, finishing tied-for-fourth in the race she once owned.

King, a 27-year-old American star, swam the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:05.60 seconds, a bit off South African Tatjana Smith’s gold medal-winning pace (1:05.28).

After a rough first 50 meters, though, which left her in seventh place of eight, King pushed toward the wall, and positioned herself for silver. Then her technique “kinda fell apart the last 10 meters,” she later explained. She touched .06 seconds after China’s Qianting Tang and, narrowly, .01 after Ireland’s Mona McSharry.

So she missed the podium, in her signature event, in what she has said will be her third and final Olympics.

But minutes later, she spoke with the perspective of a woman who had learned to savor precious moments at the Games, even in defeat.

King became a household name with her finger-wagging and gold-medal winning in 2016. She entered the 2021 Olympics as the undisputed queen of the 100, unbeaten in five years. Her brash confidence was legendary and unshakable.

But in Tokyo, a 17-year-old Alaskan shook it. Lydia Jacoby stunned King in the 100 breast. King still won three medals at those Games, but her invincibility had been deflated. Her aura faded. “​​My confidence took a major, major hit,” she’d say later.

For three years, she tried to rebuild it. But doing so was far easier said than done.

“That’s been something that I have probably had to work the hardest on since 2021, just kinda getting back to that monster version of Lilly that walks out before the race,” she said.

Last month, she was still working on it. Her fourth-place finish at world championships last summer hadn’t helped.

“To say I’m at the confidence level I was in 2021 would be just a flat-out lie,” she said after qualifying for these Games at U.S. trials. “Going into 2021, I pretty much felt invincible. Going into 2016, I pretty much felt invincible.” Going into 2024, she very much did not.

She had a lane, and a shot, on Monday in one of the more unpredictable races at this meet.

But she couldn’t quite get to the wall in time.

She’ll have one more shot at an individual medal in Thursday’s 200-meter breaststroke.