Los Angeles (AFP)
Lily King (100-meter breaststroke) and Ryan Murphy (100-meter backstroke) have qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris from July 26 to August 11 next year, and it will be their third, after the American qualifiers in Indianapolis.
King, the world record holder in the 100m breaststroke, won in 1:05.23 minutes and has the opportunity to bid for her second Olympic title at this distance after Rio in 2016.
King outperformed Emma Weber (1:06.10 minutes), especially over Tokyo 2021 Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby, who finished third, and therefore will not be able to defend her title in Paris, which is a new example of the strong competition in American swimming and its qualifiers.
Murphy, the Olympic champion in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke in Rio, then silver (200-meter backstroke) and bronze in the 100-meter backstroke in Tokyo, won the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 52.22 seconds, and rising star Hunter Armstrong came second (52.72 seconds).
After ensuring her qualification for the open water competitions scheduled on the Seine River, Katie Grimes, 18 years old, will also swim in the “La Defense Arena” pool in the capital of lights at the Olympics, thanks to her victory in the 400-meter medley race (4:35.00 minutes), ahead of Olympic silver medalist Emma. Weyant (4:35.56 minutes).
Grimes finished fourth in the 800 meters at the Tokyo Olympics, when she was only 15 years old in 2021.
The legendary Katie Ledecky dominated the 200-meter freestyle race with a time of 1:55.22 minutes, but she is not sure about competing at this distance in Paris, where she will compete in the 400-meter freestyle race, and perhaps the 800-meter and 1500-meter races, in which she will participate in the qualifiers later.
Luke Hobson won the 200-meter freestyle race in 1:44.89 minutes.
Former world record holder in the 100-meter backstroke, Reagan Smith, excelled in the semi-finals, recording 57.47 seconds, which is the fourth best time in history, and close to the current record held by Australian Kylie McKeown (57.33 seconds).
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