“I am passing on to you Kate" - Lilly King shares emotional message in farewell season after last appearance on home soil

Lilly King shared that she would pass on the torch to Kate Douglass as the 100m breaststroke world record holder nears her retirement at the end of the 2025 season. Douglass edged out King in the aforementioned event at the Toyota U.S. Championship.

Lilly King was in action at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finishing third in the semifinals with a time of 1:05.64 to advance to the finals. She was eyeing a podium finish in the finals. Still, she narrowly missed it, finishing fourth with a time of 1:05.60. Boasting two Olympic gold medals in her repertoire, King announced that the 2025 season would be her last before she retires from swimming.

On Friday, June 6, she took the pool in the 100m breaststroke, her signature event, at the Toyota US Championships. She shared the line-up with Kate Douglass, who defeated the former by 23 hundredths of a second to clinch the 100m win.

The Indiana-born swimmer, who has raced at the IU Natatorium since a tender age, shared that she would happily pass on the baton to Douglass as she nears retirement. She also reminisced about the memories (both NCAA and elite) she made in the venue.

"I've had, you know, a wonderful NCAA's here. I've had a ton of really awesome trials. I've gotten second place a lot in this pool, so kind of poetic to end it this way. Kind of just, you know, adding to that, I told Kate in December, I was like, all right, I'm passing it off to you after this. So definitely did in that race and I'm excited to race with her," she said in a poolside interview.

King attended Indiana University Bloomington, where she became the NCAA champion in the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke in her first year.

Lilly King wished the Indiana crowd to continue cheering for the active and upcoming swimmers in an emotional farewell message

King at the TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont - Day 3 - (Source: Getty)

Lilly King rose to fame at the 2016 US Olympic trials, where she won both the 100m and the 200m breaststroke events to advance to the Rio finals. She won the 100m and 4x100m medley relay events in the finals. She continued her momentum in the international pools, clinching three golds at the 2019 World Championships and three podiums at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

In her latest feat, after giving up the 100m breaststroke win to Kate Douglas, King urged the crowd to show up for the Indiana swimmers, who have supported her throughout her career.

"You know, we've got a lot of great swimmers here in Indiana. It's not just me and I'd love to continue to see this crowd come out and cheer for these Indiana swimmers because they work their butts off and this is not just a basketball state, it's definitely a swimming state. We love you. We appreciate you," she said in a post-race interview.

Lilly King will compete in the World Championships in July and August in Singapore, her last international races before retirement.