Swimming FINA World Championships 2022 day 6 schedule, results
Kyle Chalmers has produced some incredible achievements in the pool over the journey, but his astonishing relay leg at the world shortcourse championships deserves a lofty mention on that list.
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Long live the King.
If Kyle Chalmers ever thinks about quitting swimming early again, then the whole of Australia needs to beg him to stay.
The Dolphins have produced a stack of legendary male freestyle sprinters over the years but Chalmers deserves to be listed at the very top now.
Stop the fight. There is just no argument any more.
An Olympic champion as a teenager. The Commonwealth champion this year. The shortcourse world record holder. And now the shortcourse world champion.
Only the long-course world title has eluded him but it’s almost irrelevant because it’s not just the bucketload of medals that he’s won that makes the Big Tuna the fastest fish on the sea.
It’s the way he puts everything on the line when he swims for his country and his teammates.
He’s shown that plenty of times in his individual events over the years but it’s when he’s in relays that he really shows his true colours.
The ultimate team player, he sacrificed his chance of winning the individual 200m freestyle at the shortcourse world championship in Melbourne to save every ounce of energy for the 4x100m medley relay.
And he delivered in spades — unleashing a performance for the ages — to win a record 13th gold medal for Australia.
When Chalmers dived in to swim the anchor leg, the Aussies were in third place.
Isaac Cooper, Josh Young and Matt Temple had all swum brilliantly to give Chalmers a shot at getting the team on the podium but he was too far behind the Americans and the Italians to challenge for the gold.
At least that’s what everyone thought. But not Chalmers.
He completed his 100m leg in an astonishing split time off 44.63 seconds, almost a second faster than anyone else, to dead heat for first place with the Americans — with both teams breaking the world record.
The gold medal was Australia’s 13th of the championships — matching the Dolphins’ record for the most at any world championships — whether long or short course and although he was quick to pay tribute to his teammates, it was all down to Chalmers.
“I’m just the guy that carries us home,” Chalmers said.
“I’m confident every time I dive into the pool, I believe I can win. I train so hard to be there and be in those positions and I love chasing.
“To be part of the relays, watching in the marshalling room, motivates me and helps me reach an extra level. I knew we could do something special.”
Isaac Cooper said Chalmers helped him bounce back from being robbed of gold earlier in the week and deserved the credit for the relay triumph.
“While he’s giving his success to all the other athletes … he’s brought us home every week. He loves racing for the team and racing for Australia beside his best mates.”
McKeown knows target on her back just got bigger
Kaylee McKeown is swimming in a league of her own.
She may not get the same big wraps as some of her higher-profile teammates but the tough-as-nails Queenslander is without peer as she goes about rewriting the records with a minimum of fuss.
On Sunday night — at the world shortcourse championships in Melbourne, McKeown ticked off another rare accomplishment that almost went unnoticed because of her superiority.
She won the 200m backstroke gold, which wasn’t really a surprise because she’s the queen of the event, but it was still a big deal.
In doing so she completed her set of major titles in the event: he now holds the Olympic title, the Commonwealth Games title, the long course world title and now the short course world title.
The reason few people noticed what a big deal that was is because it’s so rare.
Incredibly she became the first woman to hold all four titles at the same time.
The only man to do it was Australian legend Grant Hackett.
“You know, to be up there with someone like him. It‘s phenomenal and something I’ll probably cherish for a really long time,” she said.
“The world is just getting faster and faster. I can‘t just sit back and kick my feet up. I’ve got to train harder and find a way to be better.”
Just 21, McKeown is only really getting started. Although she won three gold medals in Melbourne she has bigger fish to fry but has to do it with a big target on her back.
“I think heading into next Olympics. It‘s definitely a lot different from the last,” she said.
“For the last Olympics, I was the one chasing somebody else. Now I‘ve got all these girls that are, you know, wanting to chase me, so I just got to put myself back in that position.
“And realise, hey, just because I’ve done this in my career, doesn’t mean it’s gonna get given to me the next time I set out to do it.”
Chalmers’ huge sacrifice to chase Aussie team record
Kyle Chalmers ruled himself out of another individual gold to prime himself for Sunday night’s 4x100m medley as the Aussies eye a record medal tally.
Chalmers won the 100m freestyle but has opted against pursuing the 200m in a bid to snare another relay medal, having powered Australia to the 4x50m gold earlier in the week.
The Dolphins have claimed 11 gold medals over the tournament, meaning they require two more gongs to equal Australia’s best-ever world championship at both short and long-course.
“Kyle’s had a massive program. He’s got the relay tonight and he’s said relays are more important to him than individual success,” Ariarne Titmus told Channel 9.
The 4x100m medley team featured Isaac Cooper on the backstroke leg, Joshua Yong on breaststroke, Shaun Champion on butterfly and Chalmers anchoring as the team finished fifth-fastest of the heats. Cooper will have an added layer of motivation for Sunday night’s final having been robbed of a gold in the 50m backstroke on Friday.
The women’s 4x100m medley quartet will also have a strong gold medal chance, with Mollie O’Callaghan, Chelsea Hodges, Alex Perkins and Meg Harris sending them into the final. It remains to be seen whether they draft in star Kaylee McKeown for the backstroke leg, given she has an individual 200m backstroke final to compete in first.
McKeown, hot favourite to take out the 200m backstroke, cruised through to the final as the second-fastest in the heats.
She has dominated the event in recent times and is coming off gold in the 100m.
Meanwhile, Leah Neale and Madi Wilson snuck through the women’s 200m freestyle heats to book lanes in tonight’s final. Both have work to do to make up ground on the heat leaders, though, with Marrit Steenbergen and Siobhan Haughey shaping as the swimmers to beat.
The Dolphins would set a new bar for Australia’s best-ever gold medal tally with another three on Sunday night.
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Originally published as Swimming FINA World Championships 2022 day 6 schedule, results
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