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17 Year Old from Alaska Wins Olympic Swimming Gold
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Alaska is not exactly known as a swimming mecca, but in a rad Olympics story, a 17 year old from the state won a gold in the 100 meter breaststroke.
Lydia Jacoby pulled off the upset on Tuesday, and NBC shared footage from a watch party in her home town of Seward, which is half the size of Kutztown:
ELECTRIC.
Relive the moment Lydia Jacoby’s friends and family cheered her on to GOLD from Seward, Alaska. #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/jjLWAlaljy
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2021
Jacoby rallied in the race to win gold in 1 minute, 4.95 seconds. South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker won silver in 1:05.22, while King, another American, earned bronze in 1:05.54 – her first defeat in a 100-meter breaststroke final in nearly five years.
Team USA had been off to a sluggish start Tuesday, earning just a pair of bronze medals before the high schooler’s shocking win. When Jacoby reached the finish line, she was captured looking at the scoreboard in apparent disbelief.
That’s pretty cool. Gnarly story.
For some context here, Seward has a population of 2,700 people and is located about two and a half hours south of Anchorage. It is in the middle of nowhere:
Jacoby is the first Olympic swimmer from Alaska and her victory was an upset, to boot. According to ESPN stats and info, “the only younger USA swimmers to win an individual gold in the past 20 years are Katie Ledecky (15) and Missy Franklin (17).”
Go go USA! Rah rah! Let’s win the most gold medals.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com