World Championships what to watch: Lilly King and 15-year-old Indiana diver take on world

Initially, there was to be no major championship for U.S. swimmers in 2022. Other nations had a Commonwealth Games or European Championships, but nothing for Americans.

That all changed when FINA, the world governing body for aquatic sports, announced there would be a relocated World Championships at Budapest, Hungary.

The scheduled 2021 worlds at Fukuoka, Japan, were moved to 2022 after the pandemic caused the Tokyo Olympics to be postponed from 2020. Then the Fukuoka worlds were postponed to 2023, again by the pandemic.

Coming soon: Indianapolis lands 'historic' U.S. Olympic Trials with swim meet in a football stadium

Now there will be an unprecedented run of five years of global championships: 2021-22-23-24-25. Swimming events open Saturday at Budapest and diving on June 26.

U.S  swimmers have been preparing at a training camp in Rijeka, Croatia. FINA has banned athletes from Russia and Belarus because of the war in Ukraine.

Among Indiana athletes, what to watch:

Lilly King out to reaffirm Budapest rule

Lilly King returns to Budapest, where in 2017 she won four gold medals. Her world record in the 100-meter breaststroke from then, 1:04.13, still stands. The final in that event is Monday.

The 25-year-old Indiana University graduate arrives not as young phenom but as a veteran and one of three women’s captains for Team USA.

King will race all three breaststroke distances. At 100 meters, she is the only one of Tokyo’s top five in the field. Gold medalist Lydia Jacoby did not make the U.S. team, and South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker is skipping worlds. Russians Evgeniia Chikunova and Yulia Efimova are banned.

Also in the 100 is Annie Lazor, who is King’s training partner. In the Tokyo 200 breaststroke, Schoenmaker set a world record, followed by King and Lazor.

Japan’s Reona Aoki has the year’s best 100 time, 1:05.19. King has twice been under 1:06, with times of 1:05.32 and 1:05.67.

King has the year’s best time in the 200 breaststroke, 2:21.19. She beat college star Kate Douglass of Virginia at the U.S. trials.

More: Lilly King, Drew Kibler swim to top of the world in securing Team USA spots

Drew Kibler seeks first global medal

After becoming the first Carmel swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team, Drew Kibler endured the ignominy of being on the first U.S. relay team ever to miss a medal. Kibler was within 13-100ths of a second of the gold-winning British after his second leg, but the Americans faded to fourth.

Kibler, 22, has subsequently become the first Carmel swimmer to win an individual NCAA title (200-yard freestyle for Texas) and first to make a U.S. team for long course worlds. He has medals from Pan Pacific juniors, world juniors and Pan American Games but is seeking his first senior global medal.

Kibler qualified in three events: 200 freestyle, 400 and 800 free relays.

In the 200 free, Kieran Smith (1:45.25) and Kibler (1:45.32) rank 1-2 in the world this year.

However, the two Americans are not necessarily among medal favorites. Those are Olympic gold medalist Tom Dean of Great Britain plus three teenagers: South Korea’s Hwang Sun-woo, 19; Romania’s David Popovici, 17; South Africa’s Matt Sates, 18. At NCAAs, Sates won the 500-yard freestyle and was third, behind Kibler, in the 200 free. Olympic silver medalist Duncan Scott of Britain pulled out after contracting COVID-19.

Hoosiers’ foreign flavor

IU men will be represented by Germany’s Rafael Miroslaw, Israel’s Tomer Frankel and Egypt’s Marwan Elkamash.  Miroslaw ranks No. 5 in the world in the 100 free at 47.92, a German record. He was Big Ten champion in the 200-yard freestyle.

Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui is not on the entry list. Hafnaoui, who committed to IU for next season, won Olympic gold in the 400 freestyle after arriving in Tokyo ranked 17th in the world.

Also missing will be Columbus’ Michael Brinegar, a 2021 Olympian. He qualified in the open-water 25 kilometers but withdrew after a bout of COVID-19. The Hoosiers’ Mariah Denigan is in the women’s 10-kilometer race.

USA Diving = Team Indiana

USA Diving has moved headquarters from Indiana to Florida but remains dominated by athletes connected to this state. Of 16 divers, 13 have Indiana ties.

Among those making World Championships debuts will be Josh Hedberg, 15, Noblesville; Daryn Wright, 18, Plainfield, and IU’s Kristen Hayden, the first Black diver selected to a U.S. senior world team.

Bacon and Hedberg: vet and rookie

Sarah Bacon, 25, and Hedberg are separated by a decade but united in pursuit of medals. Both are coming off golds in last week’s Canada Cup at Calgary, Alberta.

Bacon, a Cardinal Ritter graduate who won five NCAA titles at Minnesota, took gold on 3-meter in Canada. In 2019, she won bronze on 1-meter at worlds, becoming the first U.S diver to win a women’s individual world or Olympic medal since Laura Wilkinson in 2005.

At Calgary, Hedberg earned 10s from six of seven judges on his reverse 3 ½ somersault tuck off 10-meter. At age 14, he finished fourth in the Olympic Trials.

Hedberg, at 15 years and five months, will be the youngest American ever to compete in men’s diving at worlds. Previously, the youngest was Indianapolis’ Thomas Finchum, who was 15 years/seven months at the 2005 worlds.

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Swimming World Championships Budapest: Indiana athletes at 2022 event