Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers eyes butterfly at the LA Games
Olympic champion freestyle swimmer Kyle Chalmers has revealed he intends to race in the 50m butterfly at the 2028 LA Olympic Games after winning the national final.
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Olympic champion freestyle swimmer Kyle Chalmers has revealed he intends to race in the 50m butterfly in the 2028 LA Olympics after winning the national trials final in Adelaide ahead of the World Championships.
An Olympic gold and silver medallist in the 100m freestyle, Chalmers swam a 22.89 second time to win the final and add to what had been a successful week.
He said butterfly was the stroke he first wanted to swim as a young member of the Dolphins.
“I think the 50 fly will definitely be part of the LA program,” Chalmers said.
“I’ve achieved everything the 100 freestyle has to offer so it is really nice to have a different goal to think about.
“In 2014 I finished second at trials and it would’ve been the first team I qualified for if they were taking 50 swimmers back then.
“I’ve always wanted to swim butterfly and it would be nice to go back to the stroke I started swimming and probably even my strongest stroke.”
Chalmers has put significant work into his 50m freestyle speed under new coach Shaun Curtis in an attempt to make his 100m race faster after finishing with a silver medal in the event at Paris.
While he has not yet trained butterfly, he was now confident he could pursue the stroke under new staff and amid newfound physical strength.
“This swim was so good for my confidence but my body is now allowing me to do that - it’s a demanding stroke to train but my shoulders and the rest of my body are feeling really good right now.
“It’s incredible to see the work paying off and it’s so special to have a coach like Shaun Curtis and physiologist like Jamie Stanley who believe in me so much, probably more than I believe in myself.
“To be honest, after Paris, seeing guys go 46 or 46.4 (in the 100 freestyle), I struggled to believe I’d be able to do that but having coaches who truly believe I’m capable and are sacrificing their time to be at my training, I’m just trying to make them as proud as I can and give back to them they have a lot of faith in me.”
Superstar 50m freestyle swimmer Cam McEvoy also competed in the trials final but was disqualified for moving on the starting blocks.
He decided not to protest but will still compete individually in the 50m freestyle at the World Championships in Singapore next month.
PALLISTER SETS NEW RECORD
Reinvigorated swimmer Lani Pallister has set a new Commonwealth Record in the 1500m freestyle with a spectacular swim in the national trials final.
Pallister, who won gold in the 4x200m relay at the Olympics, missed out on racing the 1500m in Paris and remarkably had not swam a 1500m event in exactly a year before posting a time of 15:39.14 in Adelaide.
The time was 10 seconds below her personal best and now makes her the third-fastest woman to swim the race behind Canadian young gun Summer McIntosh and American legend Katie Ledecky.
“In my mind this has been a long time coming,” Pallister said.
“It’s just nice to put together a swim, I didn’t get the opportunity to swim it at the Olympics last year.
“It has been a year since I swam a 1500 so this one was just about getting used to that feeling again, the big one will be in five weeks’ time at the World Championships.”
After spending years being trained by her mother, Janelle, Pallister made the move to St Peters Western to be coached by Dean Boxall.
The 23-year-old had already seen significant improvements in a number of her swims after just 10 weeks with Boxall and said she was excited by what the future could have in store.
“It has been a big week for me and it has just been nice to fall in love with the sport again after moving programs.
“I think I’ve shown what I can do and I’m excited to build on it - I don’t think this is my limit.
“I’m keen to get back into some hard work and build on the 10-week block I’ve done with Dean and everyone at St Peters.”
HARRIS REFINDS LOVE FOR SWIMMING
Olympic gold medallist Meg Harris said she was refinding her love and motivation for swimming in 2025 after an impressive win in the 50m freestyle final during the Australian trials.
The 23-year-old, who won a gold in the Paris Olympics 4x100m medley relay and silver in the 50m freestyle, clocked a strong 24.17 second time in Adelaide to claim the final ahead of next month’s World Championships in Singapore.
Despite also being a standout 100m swimmer, Harris said working on her 50m swim had been part of her process of finding motivation for the sport after the post-Olympic come down.
“I’m pretty happy, I’ve been focusing on that this year,” Harris said of her time.
“I definitely would have liked to get under 24 seconds but I can’t be happier with the swim - I’m on the team so it’s on to the World Champs now.
“I definitely love the 100 but this year I was focusing on finding love and motivation for the sport again and the little things I enjoy about it.
“One of those was that I did so well in the 50 last year so I wanted to see if I had any potential in that and focus on that.”
Harris was thrilled with her 50m race during the Paris Olympics and wanted to compete in that event again in LA 2028, along with the 100m freestyle.
She said it was her experience in Paris which kept her motivated ahead of the World Championships and LA further down the track.
“Honestly, sometimes I don’t think about it (Paris) but then it comes in waves and shocks me but I loved that race and I had so much fun and just enjoyed it.
“It was incredible, the whole experience, not just the 50m swim.
“Finding motivation again, coming off of such a high in Tokyo I didn’t experience a low like I did after Paris, but I just needed to figure out what’s next and figure out a different way to approach the sport.
“I love swimming, I love racing…going into LA I want to do really well in the 100 but I also now need to focus on how I’m going to get there and working on my 50 speed is important.”
Olivia Wunsch and Alex Perkins tied for second place in the trials final, each finishing with a 24.70 qualified time for the World Championships.
Both already in the team for Singapore, they said they will discuss their schedules with their coaches.
Perkins, who is predominantly a butterfly swimmer, said she was surprised by her result.
“I wasn’t expecting that so I need to go back and talk to my coach, 50 free wasn’t really on the cards,” she said.
“It was a lot of fun, we don’t really know what will be decided yet but we’ll suss it out with the team.”
Originally published as Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers eyes butterfly at the LA Games
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