Katie Douglass won the 200m breaststroke final at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis on Thursday but second place finisher Lilly King got the ring when her boyfriend proposed on the pool deck immediately after the race.
Douglass, winner of the women’s 100m freestyle on Wednesday, added the 200m breaststroke to her Paris program, getting to wall first in two minutes, 19.46 seconds at Lucas Oil Stadium, more than two seconds clear of King.
If King, who had already qualified for Paris with her win in the 100m breaststroke, was feeling any disappointment in her performance it was quickly washed away when boyfriend James Wells met her on the deck, got down on one knee and popped the question.
“Oh my god, yes, yes,” beamed King. “Oh gosh I am so excited.”
Regan Smith and Ryan Murphy both added to their Olympic workload after contrasting wins on Thursday.
Smith, who took the women’s 100m backstroke world record from Kaylee McKeown of Australia on Tuesday, got the action started with a dominating display in the 200m butterfly.
The American record holder in the event, Smith touched the wall in a time of two minutes, 5.70 seconds, almost a full second clear of Alex Shackell.
Murphy had already qualified for his third Games by winning the 100m backstroke earlier in the week and he made it two-for-two after fighting off a challenge from Keaton Jones to take first place in the 200m backstroke.
Murphy, a four-times Olympic gold medallist, was pushed all the way and got home in 1:54.33, just 0.28 ahead of Jones.
