Lydia Alice Jacoby (born February 29, 2004) is an American professional swimmer. She was the first Alaskan to qualify for an Olympic Games in swimming, competing at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, where she won the gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.95, which was the fastest time ever achieved by a female American swimmer in the event in the 17–18 age group. Later in the year, she was the overall highest scoring female American competitor at the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup. In 2022, she became the fastest female American swimmer in history in the 100-yard breaststroke for the 17–18 age group with a national age group record time of 57.54 seconds. In 2023, she further lowered the record to a time of 57.45 seconds, then 57.29 seconds, and set a national age group record of 2:04.32 for the girls 17–18 age group in the 200-yard breaststroke. She is the 2023 NCAA Division I champion in the women's 100-yard breaststroke.
Early life and education Jacoby was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised in Seward, Alaska.Helminiak, Jeff (November 22, 2020). "Improving through challenging times: Seward junior swimmer Jacoby wins national title at U.S. Open". Peninsula Clarion. Retrieved April 30, 2021. She started swimming when she was six years old with her local swim team, the Seward Tsunami Swim Club.SwimSwam (April 21, 2021). "Lydia Jacoby on Being an Olympic Contender as a High Schooler". YouTube. Retrieved April 30, 2021. By the time Jacoby was 12 years old, she had broken her first Alaska state record in swimming. For high school, she started attending Seward High School in Seward in 2018, where she swam as part of the high school swim team, setting high school state records for Alaska in the 100-yard breaststroke in both 2018 and 2019. In 2020, she opted not to compete on the school swim team due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead choosing to be home-schooled.Bragg, Beth (December 8, 2020). "Highly recruited Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby picks University of Texas". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
At the end of the 2020 year, Jacoby committed to swimming in college for the University of Texas at Austin starting in the fall of 2022.Ross, Andy (November 30, 2020). "Junior National Champion Lydia Jacoby Verbally Commits to Texas For Fall of 2022". Swimming World. Retrieved April 30, 2021.Keith, Braden (December 1, 2021). "Junior National Champion Lydia Jacoby Gives Texas Another Breaststroke Commit". SwimSwam. Retrieved April 30, 2021. One of the college majors she expressed interest in at the time of committing to the University of Texas was fashion design.Enslow, Patrick (December 9, 2020). "Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby sets her sights on the University of Texas". Alaska's News Source. Retrieved April 30, 2021. She returned to Seward High School in the fall of 2021 for her senior year.Stolpe, Klas (June 16, 2021). "Seward 17-Year-Old Lydia Jacoby Clinches Summer Olympic Games Swim Berth" . KINY. Retrieved June 16, 2021. She finished off her senior year swimming scholastically for Seward High School as well and graduated as valedictorian of her high school class."2022–23 Women's Swimming and Diving Roster: Lydia Jacoby". Texas Longhorns. Retrieved September 16, 2022. She also served on her high school newspaper as a columnist and appeared in Port City Players productions, theatre productions, more than once.
In the autumn of 2022, Jacoby started attending the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in textiles and apparel, and began competing collegiately for the Texas Longhorns.
Music career 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 she turned 17 years old). In addition to bass and singing, Jacoby can play guitar and piano.
COVID-19 pandemic adaptations During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jacoby was out of the pool for two months and found other forms of staying active including skiing and running with ice cleats. Jacoby and her father made a makeshift weight rack in the garage during the pandemic so she could continue lifting weights as well. When pools re-opened in Alaska, the pool in Seward remained temporarily closed so Jacoby practiced at Service High School in Anchorage with the Northern Lights Swim Club. Her mother, Leslie Jacoby, helped with commuting to the pool and renting an apartment to make swim practices.
2018–2019: State titles and making the U.S. Junior National Team Jacoby first qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in late 2018 when she was 14 years old. This first qualification was in the 100-meter breaststroke. She swam her qualifying time at the year's U.S. Winter National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. That same year, she won titles in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley at the Alaska High School State Championships. Her time of 2:09.31 in the 200-yard individual medley won her the state title in that event for girl's high school swimming."2018 Alaska State Championship Final Results". Swimming World. November 3, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2021. Her time of 1:03.11 in the 100-yard breaststroke won her the girl's high school state title in that event as well as setting a new Alaska state record. The following year, she broke the Alaska state record she set in the girl's 100-yard breaststroke in 2018 with a time of 1:00.61. Her swim also won her the title in the event at the 2019 Alaska State High School Championships."2019 Alaska State Championship Final Results". Swimming World. November 9, 2019. Retrieved May 1, 2021. She 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, 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.Alaska Swimming (February 18, 2019). "2019 Alaska Age Group Champs – Meet Results". teamunify.com. Retrieved May 17, 2021. One month later, she competed in five individual events at the 2019 Northwest Speedo Sectionals swim meet held at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, including swimming a 1:00.42 in the 100-yard breaststroke to place second and finish less than three-tenths of a second behind first-place finisher Kaitlyn Dobler."2019 Speedo Sectionals Federal Way Complete Results". Swimming World. March 21, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2021. Five months later, in August, she won the junior national champion title in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Speedo Junior National Championships.USA Swimming (August 6, 2019). "Women's 100m Breaststroke A Final | 2019 Speedo Junior Nationals". YouTube. Retrieved April 30, 2021. Based on her results, she was named to the U.S. Junior National Team later in 2019. For the whole 2019 year, Jacoby ranked 16th in the United States for the 100-meter breaststroke.
2020–2021: Olympic champion at 17 years of age In 2020 Jacoby qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in swimming in two events for the first time, the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events. At the time she was one of 12 swimmers in the history of the state of Alaska to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in swimming. Towards the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, she expressed relief about the 2020 Olympic Games being postponed due to unfair conditions created with some pools closed and others open, sharing her perspective with Anchorage Daily News, "I feel like I'm in a good place now, because when they closed the pool I was really concerned about the Olympics and the trials — it's not a fair environment, because not everybody's pools are closed."Bragg, Beth (March 24, 2020). "In Alaska, postponement of Olympics means a change of scenery for a wrestler and relief for a swimmer". Anchorage Daily News. Retrieved May 18, 2021. On November 6, 2020, at the 2020 Kenai Peninsula Virtual Invite, Jacoby swam a personal best time and set a new record for the state of Alaska in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.16.Pacer, Megan (November 12, 2020). "Sports in brief: Swim meet on deck". Homer News. Retrieved May 16, 2021."2020 Kenai Peninsula Virtual Invite – 11/6/2020 Results". KSRM. November 7, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
At the 2020 U.S. Open Swimming Championships, the only international championships hosted by USA Swimming in 2020 and held in December in San Antonio, Texas when 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."2020 Toyota US Open Championships-Compiled – 11/12/2020 to 11/14/2020 Results" . USA Swimming. November 18, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2021."Jacoby posts USA’s 2nd-fastest 100 breaststroke time for her age" . Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. November 14, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2021. The time became the second fastest time swam by an American female in the race in the 15–16 age group in history behind Megan Quann who won the gold medal in the event at the 2000 Summer Olympics at 16 years of age with a time of 1:07.05. Jacoby dropped time off her 200-meter breaststroke swim at the 2020 U.S. 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.Paulling, Daniel (December 30, 2020). "From Seward, Alaska to Emerging National Talent" . USA Swimming. Retrieved April 30, 2021. Based on her time of 1:07.57 in the 100-meter breaststroke, she ranked as the third-fastest junior American female performer in the event for the year and was named to the 2021 roster for the U.S. Junior National swim team in the 100-meter breaststroke in affiliation with the club team she first started swimming with, the Seward Tsunami Swim Club."National Junior Team – Women: 2021 Roster". USA Swimming. 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021. At the 2021 Northern Lights Swim Club Winter Time Trial in January 2021, Jacoby broke the minute mark in her 100-yard breaststroke swimming a time of 59.87.Miller, Nicole (January 28, 2021). "Jacoby and Skirboll Highlight Fast Weekend for Breaststrokers Across the US". SwimSwam. Retrieved May 16, 2021. By the end of March 2021, Jacoby lowered her 100-yard breaststroke time to a 59.35 and her 200-yard breaststroke to a 2:08.61.Phoenix Swim Club (March 22, 2021). "2021 Spring Speedo Sectionals – Results". teamunify.com. Retrieved May 25, 2021.Helminiak, Jeff (March 24, 2021). "Seward's Jacoby nabs Speedo Sectional titles". Peninsula Clarion. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
2021 TYR Pro Swim Series – Mission Viejo