Australian Olympic swimming trials: SA’s Kyle Chalmers off to Rio Olympics
ADELAIDE teenager Kyle Chalmers is off to the Rio Olympics and has set a new junior world record after a stunning performance to finish second in Monday night’s 100m freestyle final at trials in Adelaide.
ADELAIDE teenager Kyle Chalmers is off to the Rio Olympics after a stunning performance to finish second in Monday night’s 100m freestyle final at the official trials in Adelaide.
The 17-year-old Immanuel College student lived up to massive pre-race hype by smashing his personal best time to shadow Cameron McEvoy as they both booked an individual swim in Rio.
In an amazing result, McEvoy broke the Australian and Commonwealth record in 47.04secs while Chalmers swam 48.03 and James Roberts was third in 48.32.
World No 1 McEvoy’s time was just .13 of a second outside the world record.
But while McEvoy couldn’t quite beat the world mark, Chalmers looked to have gone one better, with Swimming Australia contacting FINA after the race to confirm that his time of 48.03 was a new junior world record.
Together they denied James Magnussen an individual start in the 100m freestyle but ‘The Missile’ still finished fourth and will form part of the relay.
It means Australian swimming’s wunderkind is officially off to the Olympics in August.
Watched by his father, former Port Adelaide AFL footballer Brett, Chalmers showed no signs of nerves in the biggest race of his life.
Afterwards he said he did it for himself and also for the state after a vocal home crowd turned out to support him.
“It means a lot to me but also to the state (SA), we don’t have a whole lot of swimmers so it’s good to get up there tonight and do it not only for myself but the South Australian swimmers and the people who have come out to support tonight,” Chalmers said.
“Today when I heard my name get called out I started to shake a little bit when I was pulling on my goggles but it’s been good.
“Having that experience last year I’ve known how to deal with the pressure this year, and there’s not much else I can say - I’m stoked.
“I had to stay calm on that first 50m because I knew my back end is always the strongest part of my race, so I just enjoyed the experience of racing against those bigger guys.
“I had a whole lot of fun tonight.”
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Chalmers will back up in the 50m freestyle heats on Tuesday morning ahead of the final on Wednesday.
Last year Chalmers won three gold medals at the junior world titles and then became the youngest male swimmer since Ian Thorpe to make Australia’s team for a senior world championships where he won a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay.
Thorpe — Australia’s greatest ever Olympian — was 17 when he made his Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000 and with his birthday on June 25, Chalmers will be 18 by the time the Rio Olympics are held in August.
McEvoy was delighted with his win, but couldn’t help but feel emotions of “so close but yet so far” regarding the seven year-old world record of 49.61 held by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo.
“If I’d known I was that close there might have been something in me that would have pushed me a bit further,” he said. “It’s unbelievable and it puts me in a good position come Rio but in saying that the Olympics has a history of world number one’s going in first and not coming out with the gold. The Olympics are notorious for that because the mental games of being able to step up on the day are levels above anywhere else.
“I’m very much aware that everyone else in the world will be sitting on their couches watching this race and firing them up getting ready to get back into training at 5am just to get me. So although it’s good I can’t sit back and relax.”
The Australian swim team will be officially named in Adelaide on Thursday night at the conclusion of the championships.
Australia’s 4x100m freestyle team is yet to post an official Olympic qualifying time after missing the final at last year’s world championships.
But they will line up at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre on Thursday night in a bid to secure their Olympic spot.
Monday’s night session earlier rocked a cracking pace set by the Campbell sisters in the women’s 100m freestyle semi-finals.
Older sibling Cate sizzled in 52.41 seconds — the fastest time in the world this year — to qualify fastest for Tuesday night’s final, just ahead of Bronte, who also impressed in 52.78.
Madi Groves (2:05.45) and Brianna Throssell (2:06.58), both 20, became the first swimmers of the night to qualify for Rio, finishing one-two in the women’s 200m butterfly final.
Matthew Wilson (2:09.90) won the men’s 200m breaststroke final but just missed out on the qualifying time required for Olympic selection.
World champ Mitch Larkin streaked the field to qualify fastest for Tuesday night’s men’s 200m backstroke final.
Originally published as Australian Olympic swimming trials: SA’s Kyle Chalmers off to Rio Olympics
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