31-05-2025
3-time Olympic gold medalist Lilly King announces retirement after 2025 season
Decorated American swimmer and breaststroke specialist Lilly King is stepping away from competition after the 2025 Toyota National Championships in June.
On Saturday, King took to Instagram to announce that this season he will be her swan song after initially naming the 2024 Summer Olympics as her last ride.
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'Well folks, my time has come,' she captioned a series of pictures from her career. 'This will be my final season competing. I'm fortunate heading into retirement being able to say I have accomplished everything I have ever wanted in this sport. I feel fulfilled.
'That being said, it has always been important to me that my last meet in the US be at the pool that started it all. I have been racing in the IU Natatorium since I was 10 years old,' King continued. 'From state meets, to NCAAs, Nationals, and anything in between, this pool has been my home.'
'I didn't quite make it 20 years (only 18) of racing in Indy, but this is as close as I'm gonna get! I look forward to racing in front of a home crowd one last time. See you in Indy!'
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The Evansville, Indiana native will swim her final meet in her home state as the top seed in the 100-yard breaststroke and No. 2 seed in the 50-yard breaststroke. Despite winning the event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, King will not be competing in the 200-yard breaststroke come June. She also finished eighth in the event in 2024 at the Paris Olympics.
King represented the the U.S. in three Olympic Games, winning gold in the women's 100 breaststroke and the 4×100 medley relay in 2016. It was that 100 breaststroke medal that made King a breakthrough star in Rio, as she famously called out Russia's Yuliya Yefimova over past failed doping tests, then beat her in the pool.
In 2020, King bagged silver in the 200-yard breaststroke, silver in the women's 4×100 medley relay and bronze in the 100-yard breaststroke.
She wrapped up her Olympic career finishing 4th in the 100 breast in Paris after missing the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds. King also swam in a world record performance (3:49.63) in the women's 4×100 medley relay for the Americans. The record-breaking performance capped her final Olympic effort in with gold.
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Before turning pro in 2019, King competed at Indiana. As a freshman, she won the NCAA title in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke for the Hoosiers.
King's last meet will be held at the Indiana University Natatorium from June 3-7.
