Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby has returned to training, according to The Daily Texan last month. Jacoby represented the U.S. at the 2020(1) Tokyo Olympics but missed making the team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“I didn’t feel like I was done swimming when I stepped away from it, so I’m just excited,” Jacoby said to The Daily Texan. They also reported that she is training “a few times a week.”
“I was swimming for just because everybody expected me to. … I was going to practice. I was going through all the motions,” Jacoby said. “I didn’t want it for me anymore. I wanted it because that was what I was supposed to want.”
Jacoby last competed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials where she was 3rd in the 100 breaststroke in a 1:06.37. She missed making the Olympics by just 0.27 seconds as Emma Weber touched 2nd in a 1:06.10. Lilly King, who retired last summer, touched 1st at Trials in a 1:05.43.
“I think my first moment was like, touching the wall, seeing the third and just being like, ‘I know every single camera is pointed to me right now,’” Jacoby said on her 3rd place finish at 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
She spent spring 2025 abroad in Madrid, Spain as a student at Texas. In May 2025, she announced she would not compete at U.S. Summer Nationals. At the time, she also said she still had hopes to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Jacoby arrived at Texas in fall 2022, just over a year after winning gold in the individual women’s 100 breaststroke at the 2020(1) Tokyo Olympics in a lifetime best 1:04.95. She represented Texas for her freshman (2022-2023) and sophomore (2023-2024) seasons but announced in September 2024 that she would forego her remaining NCAA eligibility and turn pro.