Lilly King reacts as she joins Katie Ledecky, Alex Walsh and other swimmers in Team USA's roster for 2026

Lilly King recently shared her reaction as she joined her teammates Katie Ledecky, Alex Walsh, and other swimmers in Team USA's roster for the 2026 season. USA Swimming recently announced the complete roster of swimmers who shall be in contention to represent the nation from the 2025-2026 season.

King shared a screenshot of the women's team roster on her Instagram story. The 28-year-old swimmer had announced her retirement from international swimming after taking part in the World Aquatics Championships held in Singapore.

The Indiana-born swimmer revealed that the current season would be her final season as a competitive swimmer. King shared her reaction on her Instagram story with the caption,

"Can't get rid of me"

Screengrab of Lilly King's Instagram comment [Image Source : Lilly King's Instagram]

Lilly King turned emotional as she announced her retirement from swimming. In an interview after the Toyota National Championships, the swimmer reminisced about her memories at the IA Natatorium [the venue for the championships], as she said,

"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 [Douglass] 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."

King had last represented the USA at the World Aquatics Championships held in Singapore. The 28-year-old swimmer contributed to yet another gold medal in the women's 4x100m medley event for Team USA.

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When Lilly King opened up about her mindset before competing

Lilly King in action at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships[Image Source: Getty]

Lilly King once spoke about her mindset before competing in a swimming contest. In her conversation with NBC, the former Olympic champion swimmer revealed that she liked to visualize the race and be mentally prepared for the same.

“I like to know that I’m in control of the heat. I like to know that people are scared to race me, and knowing that your competitors are feeling all those different emotions before potentially the biggest race of their life makes you feel pretty good about yourself. So definitely, at least for me, makes me feel very sure of what I’m doing. So I think it just gives me confidence and helps me race faster,” King said.

King made her Olympic debut at the quadrennial event held in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, where she won gold medals in the women's 100m breaststroke and the women's 4x100m medley respectively. The American won a gold medal in the women's 4x100m medley event in her final appearance at the Paris Olympics last year.