World Aquatics Championships: Kyle Chalmers finishes third in 100m Freestyle Final

Kyle Chalmers has dropped a bombshell after finishing third in the 100m freestyle at the World Championships, revealing he almost quit the sport only a few months ago.

Kyle Chalmers has revealed he almost quit swimming in January after a crisis of faith left him pondering what’s the point of chasing the impossible when he was about to become a father.

Chalmers made the frank admission after winning a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle at the world titles in Singapore, posting his fastest time in five years of 47.17s in a final won by David Popovici in 46.51s.

It was a moment of sheer joy and yet frustration for Chalmers who despite almost a decade at the top of world sprinting, still can’t join the elusive sub 47-seconds club.

It was that inability to crush a 46, combined with China’s Pan Zhanle beating him by almost a full second to Olympic gold in Paris last year, that left the strong-willed 27-year-old contemplating retirement for the first genuine time in his career.

He and fiance Ingeborg Loyning revealed in March they were expecting their first child, believed to be due in August, and it prompted Chalmers to completely re-evaluate how he went about his swimming life.

 

Romania’s David Popovici took out the 100m freestyle final.

“I was very close to stepping away from the sport in January,” Chalmers said.

“I’m lucky to have a physiologist and coach who really believes in me and have been able to change my training dramatically… going from like nine sessions a week, 50 kilometres, sort of weeks, to now doing once a day, probably topping at 20 kilometres per week.

“Just kind of reinventing myself in the sport and finding a new way to swim fast.

“It’s been really exciting, and I’m just really grateful to have a really supportive team that believe in me, or probably believe in me more than I have believed in myself since Paris last year.

Kyle Chalmers finished third in the 100m freestyle final.

“It’s quite challenging to be beaten by a whole second in an Olympic final and then try and reset and believe you can be good enough to continue to compete in that event.

“I still want to compete in the hundreds, so I know that I still have to do some volume, but it’s about trusting in my physiologist and him writing the programme.

“He doesn’t come from a swimming background at all. He comes from a cycling, running background. So a lot of the work we’re doing is based around what Australia’s elite cyclists and runners have done in their preparation for the Olympics.

David Popovici wins the Men's 100m Freestyle with a lightning fast time! #AQUASingapore25#Swimmingpic.twitter.com/j3LmxXdibQ

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 31, 2025

“So if a swimmer were to read the programmes that I’ve been doing in training, I think it would make no sense to them.”

The radical transformation of Chalmers’ training program is not exactly unique. Australian veteran Cameron McEvoy adopted a predominantly dryland training protocol three years ago after he took a career break and went on to win the 50m freestyle Olympic gold medal in Paris.

McEvoy’s theory was that his race lasted 21 seconds, so he should train like Usain Bolt for a 200m sprint. More gym, more explosive power, far less aerobic work in the pool.

David Popovici turns on the afterburners on the back half and secures his win on the 100m Freestyle! 👀

Two days after winning the 200m Freestyle💥🥇#AQUASingapore25#Swimmingpic.twitter.com/5CKOsQYUo6

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 31, 2025

Chalmers is taking a similar approach in halving his aquatic output, and then less time in chlorine has enabled him to actually experience life rather than the obsessive commitment required for elite swimmers hitting the water day and night.

“I’m loving doing something so different that’s stimulating my brain,” Chalmers said.

“I’ve been doing this sport for so long, training the exact same way, the exact same scheduled times, everything for so long that to be able to just get up in the morning now, have a coffee, do some farm work… kind of go down to training around 11am.

“I swim by myself pretty well, with the public swimmers in the middle of the day.

“But I’m really loving doing that because I have to focus completely on myself. I’m not focusing on racing the person next to me or what other people are doing. I’m focusing on my technique, and my skill execution and my stroke rate and things that I know is going to make me be able to compete with these guys when it matters most in LA.”

Summer McIntosh wasn’t satisfied despite cruising to gold.

FLYING SUMMER

Canada’s teen superstar Summer McIntosh won her third individual gold medal of the world titles in the 200m butterfly as Australia’s Lizzie Dekkers secured the bronze medal.

McIntosh was under the world record pace at the 150m mark, but faded late to win in 2:01.99 ahead of US’s perennial bridesmaid Regan Smith (2:04.99) with Dekkers third in 2:06.12.

Despite her huge margin McIntosh appeared to be filthy at herself after the race for missing the world record of 2:01.81 - the last supersuit world record still standing in swimming set by China’s Liu Zige in 2009.

“Our big goal was to break that world record,” McIntosh said,

“It’s what I’ve been training for. To see that I missed it by that little, and I know that I messed up the last 15m of my race… overall, happy with the time and a PB, but I didn’t reach my goal tonight.

“Happy with the gold, happy with the win, just going to keep pushing forward.

“It’s still a PB and PBs are hard to come by when you reach this level of the sport.”

It was a superb result for the 21-year-old Dekkers who actually missed the Australian swim team at the selection trials, but received a late call-up after Abbey Connors withdrew from the team.

“That is insane to think about,” Dekkers said of her journey from missing the team to the podium.

“I really had no expectations and I think that was the happiest I have been walking out on the pool deck.”

McIntosh has two more individual races to go where victory would see her equal Michael Phelps for the most individual gold medals at a world titles with five.

Australia's swimmer Mollie O'Callaghan recorded the second fastest time in the 100m semi-finals.

MOLLIE PLOTTING MORE GOLD

Mollie O’Callaghan set herself up for a crack at defending her 100-200m freestyle world title double, qualifying second fastest for Friday night’s 100m freestyle final.

O’Callaghan, who won the 200m freestyle earlier in the meet, won the double at the 2023 world titles in Fukuoka and remains on target for the same feat in Singapore with a comfortable 52.82s semifinal swim.

She was just 0.01s slower than Dutch sprinter Marrit Steenbergen in the first semi, but looked to have plenty of gas left in the tank as she eased into the wall to conserve energy for a relay final later in the schedule.

Originally published as World Aquatics Championships: Kyle Chalmers finishes third in 100m Freestyle Final