Poolside partnership dramas take attention off Australian championships

Kyle Chalmers and former pop star Cody Simpson went head-to-head in Adelaide during a week of drama at the national swimming championships.

It was the pool-deck sideshow that arguably overshadowed the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide last week: swimming powerhouse Kyle Chalmers beating former pop star Cody Simpson to a place in the coming World Championships.

The complication? Simpson – a butterfly specialist – is dating Olympic freestyler Emma McKeon; the reported former flame of Chalmers.

The other complication? Chalmers originally said he wasn’t going to compete at the World Championships, but changed his mind after placing second in the 100m butterfly event, which pushed Simpson out of the team.

Kyle Chalmers of Australia catches his breath after winning the men’s 50m butterfly final at the Australian Swimming Championships at SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre on May 19 in Adelaide. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers in April 2018 at Griffith University on the Gold Coast. Picture: Adam Head

Swimming Australia gala awards night at the Adelaide Convention Centre, October 2017, Madi Wilson and Kyle Chalmers Picture: Russell Millard

The drama culminated in Chalmers releasing an emotional statement via social media on Sunday saying that he would not attend the unveiling of the Aussie teams to compete in June’s FINA World Championships in Hungary and July’s Commonwealth Games in the UK, opting instead to be with family in Port Lincoln.

“The past few days have been really challenging for me mentally and emotionally and it’s taken a massive toll on me,” Chalmers wrote on Instagram.

“I need to look after my mental health and get myself right as I prepare for a massive year in the pool.”

Chalmers was welcomed by the Elliston Football Club on Saturday, playing in SA’s Great Flinders Football league. Chalmers has made no secret of his love of Aussie rules, saying in 2018 that he hoped to pursue an AFL career after swimming.

Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson during a training session ahead of the 2021 Australian National Olympic Swimming Trials in Adelaide. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Cody Simpson and Miley Cyrus, October 2019. Picture Instagram

Cody Simpson and Gigi Hadid in April 2015 at Coachella. Picture: Instagram

Cody Simpson with then girlfriend, model Marloes Stevens, December 2020. Picture: instagram

Simpson – who’s had a long history of dating famous women – said he had no issue whatsoever with Chalmers changing his mind and taking the Worlds’ spot.

“I’ve got nothing but respect for him and he’s well within his right to decide to swim even when he didn’t want to before,” Simpson said.

“If the tables were turned and I was in that position and I decided I wanted to swim I’d hope people would understand and respect that I’d earned that place so I’m happy for him and I’m stoked for myself to get on this team.”

Simpson, has, however, made the Commonwealth Games team and the 25-year-old revealed that he broke down in tears the moment he found out he had made the Australian swimming team for the Birmingham event.

Unsure if he would make the team after a week of high drama at the Australian trials, Simpson was unable to contain his emotions the moment he got the good news, on a text message from the Australian coaching staff.

He has shared a video recording of the exact moment on his Instagram page which shows him being first congratulated by his girlfriend McKeon then getting a loving bear hug from his father Brad.

Swimmers Cody Simpson and Emma McKeon after Cody received a text telling him he made the Australian Team. Picture Instagram

Olympic swimming champion Emma McKeon. Picture: Toby Zerna

The moving footage went viral and received hundreds of likes and comments from fans and swimmers all over the world, including Shayna Jack who posted a cute picture of herself and Simpson together when they were kids.

“I was sitting up in my chair when I got that message and I started crying,” Simpson said.

“I just sunk down in my chair. I just gave them both a big hug.”

A talented junior swimmer who quit the sport for a career in music, few people genuinely believed Simpson could get selected for one of the best swimming teams in the world.

No matter which way you look at it, it’s an incredible achievement that has put the sport back in the spotlight but he’s far from finished yet.

Just two years into his comeback, Simpson never expected to make the team so quickly so is resetting his goals toward making the team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

And although he’s spent the past decade singing in front of audiences ranging from screaming teenagers to the Queen, his background as a performer helps him cope with his nerves when’s on the block ready to dive in.

“It‘s all similar in a sense. Like it’s all just having eyes on you and having expectations on you and certain pressures to deliver a certain result or not,” he said.

“It’s all like a similar kind of stimulus, if your brain just kind of gets used to being able to get up and do it and being able to remain sort of calm and steadfast under certain conditions.

“That’s what I had learnt to do through my whole childhood, like growing up performing in front of people and you know, like seeing in front of Queen and doing all these things.

“It’s funny, literally for the last Commonwealth Games, I was in London singing for the Queen. Because I’m from the Gold Coast, they had me go over and sing I still call Australia home at Buckingham Palace’ now four years later I’ll be swimming at the next one.”