FINA Budapest: Lilly King labors to make world final; Drew Kibler swims into medal mix
Here is a development no one foresaw in the Indiana swimming community:
At the World Championships, Drew Kibler is a better bet to medal in his specialty than Lilly King is in hers.
In the 200-meter freestyle, Kibler put himself squarely in the Monday medal mix at Budapest, Hungary.
More: USA Swimming pulls Carmel's Drew Kibler out of relay due to COVID protocols
Out of Sunday’s two semifinals, he was sixth-fastest at 1:45.54, or just .08 behind South Korea’s third-place Hwang Sun-woo. David Popovici, a 17-year-old from Romania, won semifinal 2 in a world junior record of 1:44.40.
After Popovici came Felix Auboeck, Austria, 1:45.17; Hwang; Tom Dean, Great Britain, 1:45.48; 400 free gold medalist Elijah Winnington, Australia, 1:45.53, and Kibler. Also making the final was U.S. teammate Kieran Smith, eighth, 1:46.06.
Ahead of the worlds, Smith (1:45.25) and Kibler (1:45.32) ranked 1-2 this year.
Kibler was fifth in the heats in 1:46.13.
Kibler was omitted from the team that won gold Saturday in the 400 freestyle relay. USA Swimming released a statement saying COVID protocol travel delays led to the action to pull Kibler from the relay “to focus on his individual and future events.”
Kibler became the first Carmel swimmer to qualify for a world final, adding to a list of firsts. Last year, he became the first to make a U.S. Olympic team. This year, he became the first to win an individual NCAA title (in the 200-yard freestyle) and first to make a senior world team.
Since 2018, the only senior international medal won by the United States in the 200-meter freestyle was Kibler’s bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games.
In the 100-meter breaststroke, King made Monday’s final only because training colleague Annie Lazor was disqualified in semifinal 2. In that race, Lazor was fifth and King sixth before the DQ.
“Looking up at the clock and seeing fifth and sixth place is not exactly expected,” King said in an interview on the Olympic Channel. “But that’s how swimming goes. If we went off the psych sheet, we wouldn’t swim the meet.”
King, a five-time Olympic medalist from Indiana University, customarily has the fastest times of each round. But she was seventh after the heats (1:06.65) and eighth (1:06.40) in semifinals.
Germany’s Ana Elendt was top qualifier in 1:05.62, followed by 17-year-old Benedetta Pilato of Italy, 1:05.88. Also making the final was Japan’s Reona Aoki, who has the year’s best time, 1:05.19.
In 2022, King has twice been under 1:06, with times of 1:05.32 and 1:05.67. She won world titles in 2019 and 2017, setting the world record of 1:04.13 at Budapest in 2017.
Elsewhere, Americans swam to three gold medals:
Caeleb Dressel, men’s 50 butterfly, 22.57; Torri Huske, women’s 100 butterfly, 55.46, breaking her own American record; Alex Walsh, 2:07.13, women’s 200 individual medley. In the latter, 16-year-old Leah Hayes took bronze in 2:08.91, a world junior record.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: World Championships Budapest: Lilly King struggles. Drew Kibler doesn't
