King wins to set up showdown with rival

U.S. Olympic gold medalist on track to face Efimova in July.

INDIANAPOLIS — Lilly King toned down the trash talk for one night.

She’s still got three more weeks to come up with some new lines to throw at her Russian rival.

The brash Olympic gold medalist set up a potential world championship rematch with Yulia Efimova by winning the 200-meter breaststroke Wednesday night at the U.S. National Championships.

King’s winning time of 2 minutes, 21.83 seconds, was a personal best and the second-fastest race in the world this year — behind Efimova, who finished in 2:19.83 two weeks ago.

“I love racing, I’m just focused on me right now,” King said when asked about facing Efimova again. “I love racing fast people. I love racing.”

During last summer’s Olympics, King turned heads in the usually genteel swimming world by calling Efimova a drug cheat.

Efimova had been banned twice previously for doping.

But Indiana University’s star swimmer backed up her bold talk by claiming gold in the 100 breast and forcing Efimova to settle for silver. The anticipated rematch in the 200 breast never materialized because King didn’t qualify for the finals.

The two haven’t squared off in a pool since then, though, but King refused to back down from her previous comments while being repeatedly questioned about it over the past 11 months.

It’s also clear King isn’t content with just getting one more shot to beat up on Efimova in Budapest, Hungary, next month.

She also wants to avenge her 12th-place Olympic finish in the 200, too.

Stanford’s Katie Ledecky won for the second time in two nights, this time with a 1:54.84 in the 200 freestyle.

Olympic teammate Leah Smith finished second, again, almost two seconds behind her old nemesis.

Winners of each event qualify for the world team.