48 Facts About Lydia Jacoby

Lydia Alice Jacoby was born on February 29,2004 and is an American professional swimmer.

Lydia Jacoby is the 2023 NCAA Division I champion in the women's 100-yard breaststroke.

Lydia Jacoby started swimming when she was six years old with her local swim team, the Seward Tsunami Swim Club.

Lydia Jacoby returned to Seward High School in the fall of 2021 for her senior year.

Lydia Jacoby finished off her senior year swimming scholastically for Seward High School as well and graduated as valedictorian of her high school class.

Lydia Jacoby served on her high school newspaper as a columnist and appeared in Port City Players productions, theatre productions, more than once.

Lydia Jacoby sang, wrote songs, and played double bass as part of a bluegrass band named the Snow River String Band for six years performing at the Anchorage Folk Festival multiple times prior to 2021.

When pools re-opened in Alaska, the pool in Seward remained temporarily closed so Lydia Jacoby practiced at Service High School in Anchorage with the Northern Lights Swim Club.

Lydia Jacoby's swim won her the title in the event at the 2019 Alaska State High School Championships.

Lydia Jacoby took third in the state in the girl's 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:09.83.

At the 2019 Alaska Age Group Championships, held in February 2019, Lydia Jacoby competed in seven individual events including winning the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.68, the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:28.65, and the 200-yard individual medley in 2:10.58.

At the 2020 US Open Swimming Championships, the only international championships hosted by USA Swimming in 2020 and held in December in San Antonio, Texas when Lydia Jacoby was 16 years old, she won the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke with a personal best time of 1:07.57, finishing only behind gold medalist Anna Elendt of Germany, which made her the highest ranking female American swimmer at the Championships in the event.

Lydia Jacoby dropped time off her 200-meter breaststroke swim at the 2020 US Open as well, a total drop of about five seconds resulting in a new personal record time of 2:32.36 and a thirteenth-place finish.

At the 2021 Northern Lights Swim Club Winter Time Trial in January 2021, Lydia Jacoby broke the minute mark in her 100-yard breaststroke swimming a time of 59.87.

Lydia Jacoby finished behind 2016 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the event, Lilly King, and before 2019 Pan American Games gold medalist in the event Annie Lazor.

Lydia Jacoby's swim garnered press coverage from NBC Sports, which featured her swim as a story highlight of the competition heading into the 2020 Olympic Trials in swimming in June 2021.

Lydia Jacoby's swim was the sixth-fastest time in the world for women in the event so far in the 2021 year.

Lydia Jacoby competed in the 200-meter individual medley, swimming a new personal record and finishing with a time of 2:29.38 in the preliminaries.

Lydia Jacoby was one of two swimmers from Alaska to qualify for the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials.

Lydia Jacoby was the sole female qualifier from the state, while John Heaphy from Eagle River was the sole male qualifier.

On May 24,2021, Lydia Jacoby was listed as a top three pick by SwimSwam in the women's 100-meter breaststroke for the 2020 Olympic Trials held in June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lydia Jacoby was not listed on the heat sheets for the finals of the girls 15 and over 200-yard breaststroke and she decided to not swim in the finals of the event.

On June 10,2021, Lydia Jacoby was called a "Dark Horse Threat" to the women's 200-meter breaststroke event for the upcoming US Olympic Trials by SwimSwam in part due her 15th place seed time and in part due to her stroke's similarity to the stroke of Leisel Jones.

Lydia Jacoby became the first swimmer from Alaska to qualify for an Olympic Games.

Lydia Jacoby's swim made her the second-fastest swimmer in the world for the 2021 year up to that point in the women's long course 100-meter breaststroke and the eighth fastest swimmer all-time globally for the event.

Lydia Jacoby was one of ten teenage female swimmers to make the team.

Lydia Jacoby's medal was the first gold medal won by an American woman in swimming at the 2020 Olympics.

Lydia Jacoby's swims caught the attention of Time magazine who acknowledged her as a "fresh face" highlight of the US swim team at the Olympic Games.

Lydia Jacoby had a breakthrough in the short course 100-meter breaststroke race at the World Cup stop in Berlin, swimming a time of 1:05.20, winning the bronze medal in the event, and ranking her as the 13th fastest female swimmer in the race in 2021 up to then.

Lydia Jacoby was selected as one of a handful of competitors to participate in a press conference at the Berlin stop, with a picture of her at the press conference being featured on the FINA website.

Lydia Jacoby broke 30 seconds for the first time in the final of the 50-meter breaststroke, winning the silver medal in the event with her time of 29.97 seconds.

Lydia Jacoby ranked 13th amongst female competitors for her score of 86.1 points across all four World Cup stops, she competed at two of the four stops and ranked as the highest scoring female American swimmer for the entire 2021 World Cup circuit.

The beginning of the 2021 awards season overlapped a bit with Jacoby competing at the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup, receiving her first nomination in late September, prior to the commencing of World Cup competition, for the James E Sullivan Award.

Lydia Jacoby joined skier Tommy Moe and bowler Ron Mohr as one of only a few Alaskans to ever be nominated for the accolade, though they tied in the sense that none of them, including Jacoby, won the award and the highest level achieved in the nomination process was finalist for the award.

Lydia Jacoby was one of four swimmers who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics to receive three Golden Goggle Award nominations, with the other three being Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, and Bobby Finke.

Lydia Jacoby edged out 2020 Olympian Jillian Crooks for the award, a swimmer from the Cayman Islands who moved to Alaska following the 2020 Summer Olympics to test out the American, and specifically Alaskan, competitive swimming scene.

Not to have her progress halted by the awards season, Lydia Jacoby entered to compete in the 50-meter breaststroke and 100-meter breaststroke individual events at the 2021 World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates starting on December 16.

Lydia Jacoby trained at the Championships venue, Etihad Arena, with her teammates in the days leading up to the start competition.

Day one of competition, Lydia Jacoby ranked ninth in the prelims heats of the 50-meter breaststroke, qualifying for the semi-finals later in the day with her time of 30.16 seconds.

Less than one week after turning 18 years old, Lydia Jacoby placed third in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2022 Pro Swim Series in Westmont, Illinois with a time of 1:06.87.

Lydia Jacoby finished in 1:06.21 in the final, placing fourth.

Lydia Jacoby further improved her personal best time in the final, placing fourth with a time of 1:04.62 that was 1.67 seconds slower than gold medalist and 2012 Olympic champion at 15 years of age in the 100-meter breaststroke Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania.

Six days after the 2022 Swimming World Cup Toronto, Lydia Jacoby placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke in a dual meet against the Virginia Cavaliers with a time of 58.96 seconds, less than nine-tenths of a second behind two junior-year swimmers, each of whom was 21 years of age.

Lydia Jacoby followed up her national age group record of 57.54 seconds seven days later with her second-ever sub-58-second time in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2022 Winter Junior National Championships, winning the event with a time of 57.76 seconds.

Lydia Jacoby was named as a Newcomer of the Year by the Big 12 Conference following her performances over the course of the season.

Lydia Jacoby won the 50-meter breaststroke, finishing first in the final with a time of 30.29 seconds on the fourth and final day.

Lydia Jacoby competed at the United States Olympic trials held in Indianapolis and aimed to qualify for her second consecutive Olympics.

Lydia Jacoby finished third in the 100-meter breaststroke behind Lilly King and Emma Weber, and missed her opportunity to make it onto the Olympic team and was not able to defend her title.