Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby of Seward didn’t add to her medal collection Friday in her return to the world stage, but she established a personal-best time in an event that isn’t her specialty.
Jacoby, a 17-year-old high school senior, placed fifth in the women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the FINA World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
She registered a time of 2 minutes, 24.99 seconds to shave more than two seconds off her previous fastest time at 200 meters (2:27.39, recorded in April of this year).
Kristyna Horska of the Czech Republic won the race in 2:21:07, and Eneli Jefimova of Estonia was second (2:22.2). The next three swimmers, including Jacoby, were separated by three-tenths of a second, with the bronze going to Nele Schulze of Germany (2:24.69).
On Saturday, Jacoby will compete in the race that made her famous -- the 100-meter breaststroke. Jacoby stunned the world by claiming the gold medal in that event at the Tokyo Olympics in August; she also swam the breaststroke leg on America’s silver-medal women’s medley relay team.
The Olympic races were held in a 50-meter pool; the races in Berlin are short-course events in a 25-meter pool.