Page 13: Swimming love triangle takes a new spin with a different stroke

Kyle Chalmers’ ultimate macho power move on pop star Cody Simpson has been causing tumble turns at the Australian Swimming Championships.

Swimming’s love triangle just keeps getting more interesting.

Kyle Chalmers’ ultimate macho power move on pop star Cody Simpson has been causing tumble turns at the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide.

Forget all the spin, the only reason Chalmers raced in the 100m butterfly was to keep his ex’s new boyfriend out of the Australian team.

Emma McKeon. Picture: Toby Zerna

If you’re just tuning in, Chalmers used to date Olympic golden girl Emma McKeon and they had everyone in Australian sport falling over themselves given it was a match made in heaven.

They hooked up last year – naturally after he’d split from another swimmer – but the fairytale for the new golden couple ended abruptly when Chalmers supposedly started swimming laps elsewhere.

Enter Simpson, the former boyfriend of megastar Miley Cyrus.

He was a gun junior swimmer before he went to Hollywood where he had a few music hits and was the “it” guy when he was swinging off the arm of Miley.

Cody Simpson. Picture: Getty Images

But the lure of the pool got him and his comeback understandably started gaining headlines last year around the Tokyo Olympics which came around too quickly for him.

So he set his sights on this year’s world championships in Budapest and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, with the butterfly his preferred stroke.

He set up base on the Gold Coast, which is where he became smitten with McKeon after the pair trained in the same squad.

Kyle Chalmers. Picture: AFP

Now back to Chalmers.

The 2018 Rio Olympics 100m freestyle champion had declared he wasn’t going to the worlds this year and would focus on the Comm Games. Then out of nowhere he entered the national championships in the butterfly – an event he’d never focused on before. Sources told Page 13 his motivations were clear – block Simpson from making the team.

And he delivered, finishing second in the 100m butterfly final with Simpson relegated to third. Only the top two qualify, which meant Emma’s man missed out.

Chalmers later tried to shrug off the love triangle, claiming he swam butterfly as a kid and had suddenly rediscovered his love for the stroke.

Simpson has a chance to sneak into the 4x100m relay team but will need to finish in the top five.