Olympic Gold Medalist Lydia Jacoby Positioned For FINA World Championships Success

Arena signed 17-year-old phenom and Olympic breaststroke champion, Lydia Jacoby, the brand’s first sponsorship deal under the new NCAA NIL (name, image and likeness) rules that came into effect on July 1st, 2021.

The day arena made the announcement, Lydia topped SwimSwam traffic, pulling more eyeballs than the ISL match and the college invite coverage. In other words, this Alaska native has real star power!

Lydia stunned the world by coming from behind to win gold in the Olympic 100m breaststroke, besting both the current world record holder. It was the culmination of a meteoric rise through the elite swimming ranks that started back at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals in 2018, when Lydia first made the cut for US Olympic Swimming Trials at just 14 years old.

With the postponement of the Olympics, Lydia’s training was severely restricted when her home pool closed for nearly 6 months from March to September of 2020. She and her father, with the help of her coach Solomon D’Amico, had to build a makeshift weight rack at home until a facility in Anchorage began to partially reopen in May of 2020, 2.5 hours and 120 miles from her hometown of Seward.

Undeterred, Lydia returned to the pool faster than ever, breaking National Age Group records twice at the Olympic Trials, where she finished second in the 100m breaststroke to become the first Alaskan swimmer in history to make the US Olympic Team.

Swimming in lane 3 in the Tokyo 100m breaststroke final, Lydia turned at the halfway point in third place before powering home with a time of 1:04.95. Over the course of just 3 years, she had slashed more than 6 seconds off her personal best, and in claiming her Olympic title, became only the sixth female swimmer in history to break 1:05 in 100m breaststroke.

0:00 Intro
1:00 Signing with Arena
5:00 Photoshoot with Mike Lewis
7:22 Growing up in Alaska
10:16 Lydia's Coach, Solomon D' Amico
14:55 Lydia's Favorite Swim Set
20:00 Breaststroke Training
22:00 Instagram Blowup
25:00 Winning Olympic Gold in 100 Breast
35:28 Mixed Medley Goggle Malfunction
39:30 Women's Medley Relay
42:08 Golden Goggles in Miami

Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com

Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (https://swimswam.com)

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