Lillia Camille King (born February 10, 1997) is an American former competitive swimmer who specialized in breaststroke. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke competition and also won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, in which she swam the breaststroke leg. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, King won a silver medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay for her efforts in the prelims, the silver medal in the 200-meter breaststroke, and the bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter medley relay, where she swam the breaststroke leg. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter breaststroke.
King retired from competitive swimming after the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Early life King was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, the daughter of Mark and Ginny King. Mark ran track and cross-country at Indiana State University, and Ginny swam for Eastern Kentucky University and Illinois State University. King's younger brother Alex is a walk-on swimmer at the University of Michigan. King attended FJ Reitz High School, where the school's swim team shared Lloyd Pool with five other teams. The lanes at Lloyd Pool were often overcrowded, preventing King from receiving the necessary workout she required to perform at her best competitive level, so to help compensate, King added several morning practices a week with the local masters team and joined a competitive swim team called the Newburgh Sea Creatures.
Career Early career To gain additional competition experience in her teenage years, King swam unattached at junior national championships, with a standout performance in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2012 Winter Junior National Championships.HY-TEK (December 8, 2012). "2012 Speedo Winter Junior National Champs: Women 200 Yard Breaststroke Preliminaries Results". swmeet.com. Retrieved November 3, 2021. As a 17-year-old at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, held in Hawaii, she won gold medals in the 100 meter breaststroke with a Championships record time of 1:07.98, and the 4×100 meter medley relay with a Championships record of 4:03.44, and placed fourth in the 200 meter breaststroke with a time of 2:29.83.Hy-Tek (August 31, 2014). "2014 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships: Results". swmeets.com. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
College King attended Indiana University Bloomington, where she competed for the Indiana Hoosiers swimming and diving team.
At the NCAA Women's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships during her first year, she was the NCAA Champion in the 100 yard breaststroke (56.85) and 200 yard breaststroke (2:03.59). The performance established King as one of the best short course yards breaststroke swimmers in history, setting the American, NCAA, NCAA Meet, U.S. Open, Indiana school, Big Ten, and Georgia Tech Pool records in winning the NCAA titles. That same first year she was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, earned four All-America honors, First-Team All-Big Ten, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. King continued her elite success by claiming the 100 yard breaststroke and 200 yard breaststroke titles throughout her collegiate career and was only the 2nd swimmer ever to sweep the two events for all four years. As a senior, she won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's best female swimmer.
2016 Summer Olympics
At the 2016 US Olympic trials in Omaha, King won both the 100 meter breaststroke and the 200 meter breaststroke, qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In the 100-meter breaststroke heats, King finished first with a time of 1:05.78 and qualified for the semifinals. There she again finished first with a time of 1:05.70. The next fastest swimmer was Yuliya Yefimova from Russia, the reigning world champion who had previously served a 16-month doping suspension for failing a 2013 drug test. Yefimova also failed a drug test in 2016, but with no research on how long the drug stayed in a person's system, she was not banned or given a suspension. As King looked on from the ready room, where swimmers gather before they race, Yefimova won her semifinal and wagged her index finger, apparently in imitation of King's own finger wag in an earlier heat. After posting the fastest time in the 100 m breaststroke semifinals, King expressed distaste. In a post-race interview with NBC and reported on by The New York Times, King said, "You wave your finger No. 1 and you've been caught drug cheating? I'm not a fan." King went on to win the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke, setting an Olympic record of 1:04.93 in the process.
In the 200-meter breaststroke heats, King finished 15th with a time of 2:25.89 and qualified for the semifinals. She finished 7th in her semifinal with a time of 2:24.59. She did not qualify for the final. Charlotte Wilder of USA Today said King and Yefimova's rivalry "was heightened by the backstory, the international rivalry, and the high stakes of a final event. It was the Olympics at its very, very best." Mike Decourcy and Tom Gatto of Sporting News noted the two swimmers "joined the list of the hottest U.S.-Soviet/Russian head-to-heads in sports history." As a result of her approach to the 2016 Summer Olympics and her rivalry with Yefimova, Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports said King developed a reputation as being "friendly but fiery, with no filter and no apologies." Journalists from The Washington Post and the Associated Press criticized King's treatment of Yefimova.Jenkins, Sally (August 10, 2016). "In vilifying Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, Americans are splashing murky waters". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 31, 2016.Associated Press (August 10, 2016). "Efimova is a poor poster child for Russian scandal". USA Today. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
2017 World Championships
At the 2017 US Nationals, the qualification meet for the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, King swept the breaststroke events. She won the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 29.66, the 100-meter breaststroke with 1:04.95, and the 200-meter breaststroke with 2:21.83.
In her first event at the 2017 World Championships, King won the 100-meter breaststroke with a world record time of 1:04.13. King's American teammate Katie Meili finished second and Yulia Efimova touched third. The race was highly anticipated because Efimova had nearly broken the former world record and mockingly wagged her finger during the semifinal.
2018 At the 2018 US Nationals, the qualification meet for the World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, King won two of three breaststroke events. She dominated the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 29.82 and the 100-meter breaststroke in 1:05.36.Reid, Scott M. (July 27, 2018). "Caeleb Dressel, Lilly King rebound from rough starts at U.S. Championships". Orange County Register. Retrieved June 25, 2021."2018 Phillips 66 National Championships: Results Book". Omega Timing. July 29, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2021. King also placed 5th in the 200-meter breaststroke (2:25.31).
2018 Pan Pacific Championships King competed in a total of three events at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships held in Tokyo, Japan, in August 2018. She won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:05.44."Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 2018: Total Ranking". Seiko. August 9–12, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2021.Lyman, Jill (August 9, 2018). "Lilly King wins gold at Pan Pacific Championships". 14 News. Retrieved June 25, 2021.Woods, David (August 9, 2018). "Lilly King wins gold but is behind Russian for No. 1". IndyStar. Retrieved June 25, 2021. In her other two events, she won silver medals, swimming a 2:22.12 in the 200-meter breaststroke and splitting a 1:04.86 on the breaststroke leg of the 4x100-meter medley relay.Woods, David (August 12, 2018). "Lilly King loses (twice) at Pan Pacs and settles for silvers". IndyStar. August 12, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
2019 2019 World Championships
In her first event at the 2019 World Championships, King won the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:04.93. She also won the 50-meter breaststroke easily with a 29.84. In the 200-meter breaststroke, King was disqualified in the prelims heats for not touching the wall simultaneously with both hands on one of her turns.Woods, David (July 25, 2019). "Lilly King admits disqualification at World Championships was 'right call'". IndyStar. Retrieved June 25, 2021. King swam the breaststroke leg of the 4x100-meter mixed medley relay with Ryan Murphy swimming backstroke, Caeleb Dressel swimming butterfly, and Simone Manuel swimming freestyle. She was the only female swimmer to swim the breaststroke leg of the mixed relay out of all eight relays in the final. The relay finished second, two-hundredths of a second behind the Australian relay team, taking silver in the event. Lastly, King was a part of the world record-breaking 4x100-meter medley relay with Regan Smith, Kelsi Dahlia, and Simone Manuel in a time of 3:50.40."18th FINA World Championships Gwangju (KOR): Results Book". Omega Timing. July 28, 2019. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
International Swimming League In 2019 she was a member of the inaugural International Swimming League representing the Cali Condors, who finished third place in the final match in Las Vegas, Nevada, in December. King was the only swimmer in the league to go undefeated in multiple matches, winning all 16 events she participated in throughout the season.
2021 2020 US Olympic Trials On the second day of the 2020 US Olympic Trials (delayed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), June 14, 2021, King set a Championship Record in the semifinals of the 100-meter breaststroke swimming a 1:04.72."2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Women's 100m Breaststroke Semifinals Results Summary". Omega Timing. June 14, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021. Her time was also the fastest among women globally in the long course 100-meter breaststroke for the year up to that point in 2021.Penland, Spencer (June 14, 2021). "Lilly King Lowers her Own World-Leading 100 Breast by .6 with 1:04.72 in Semis". SwimSwam. Retrieved June 15, 2021.OlympicTalk (June 15, 2021). "Lilly King, after a swim with snapping turtles, makes waves in, out of pool at Olympic Trials". NBC Sports. Retrieved June 15, 2021. In the final for the 100-meter breaststroke the evening of the next day of competition, day three, King finished first with a time of 1:04.79, less than a second ahead of second-place finisher Lydia Jacoby, and qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in the event."2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Wave II: Women's 100m Breaststroke Final Results Summary". Omega Timing. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2021.OlympicTalk (June 15, 2021). "For the first time, an Alaskan is in line to swim at the Olympics". NBC Sports. Retrieved June 15, 2021. This was King's second time making a US Olympic Team.Sutherland, James (June 15, 2021). "2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Wave II: Day 3 Finals Live Recap". SwimSwam. Retrieved June 15, 2021. In her post-win interview for the 100-meter breaststroke on the NBC telecast covering day three of the US Olympic Trials in swimming, King expressed excitement about getting to call herself a two-time Olympian."Swimming". 2020 US Olympic Team Trials from CHI Health Center Omaha. NBC, KING-TV, Seattle, June 15, 2021.