Swimming championships 2017: Kyle Chalmers, Cameron McEvoy set for 100m freestyle rematch

The world’s fastest and the Olympic gold medallist will face off in the final at the national swimming championships.

Kyle Chalmers prepares to race in the Men's 100m Freestyle during the 2017 Australian Swimming Championships in Brisbane.

The world’s fastest 100m freestyler Cameron McEvoy set up a rematch with Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers in tonight’s national final by dominating this morning’s heats in Brisbane.

McEvoy, 22, fell short of the medals in Rio, despite being the fastest man in the field, but he is back in his comfort zone as the triple national champion.

He was in command of the final heat as he stopped the clock in 48.70 sec, just ahead of 18-year-old Jack Cartwright, who set a personal best of 48.81 sec and will make his Australian team debut at the world titles in Budapest after securing a spot on the 4 X 200m freestyle relay.

Chalmers was next fastest (49.14sec) but showed in a club relay on Sunday night (48.22 sec split) that he has a substantially faster swim in him.

The teenage Olympic gold medallist appears to be feeling some pressure in his first real test since Rio after a preparation disrupted by illness.

He has refused all interviews since the competition started, even after finishing second in the 200m freestyle.

McEvoy, by contrast, was happy to chat, despite being upset in the 200m freestyle final two days ago, where he finished fifth as the defending national champion

He said his sprint rhythm was still there after his dominant victory in the 50m on the opening night, but it had not translated to the longer race.

His coach Richard Scarce said McEvoy had not followed him best race plan by going out too slow over the first 100m.

“The 200 stroke is very different technically to the 50 and the 100 so I see that as a completely different event,’’ he said.

“This week my 200 stroke didn’t have that kind of speed for the first lap but it feels like a very different story with the 100 and 50 stroke. In the 50 I had great speed and today it felt really nice.’’

“I feel a lot more connected in the sprinting at the moment.’’

He said he was looking forward to a “pretty fun race’’ with Chalmers tonight.

“You have me and Kyle but you also have a few other young guns and some of them did their best times this morning so no doubt they are going to make a pretty big leap tonight,’’ he said.

“I think I’ll just take it out hard and see what happens.’’

It will be a race of contrasts with McEvoy using his front end speed to establish a lead and Chalmers relying on his back end surge to try to steal the race in the final metres, as he did at the Olympics.”

Earlier, Commonwealth champion Taylor McKeown performed an impressive rehearsal for tonight’s final in the 200m breaststroke heats.

McKeown was more than five seconds faster than the field as she cruised into the final in 2:26.73.

The 22-year-old Queenslander is clearly in superb form and ready to flex some muscle tonight.

“I just practised my race plan but I did it at 85 per cent instead of 100 and 2:26.7 is a solid heat swim given the effort I put in — I didn’t go that fast last year,’’ she said.

McKeown said she was far better prepared this year than she was at last year’s Olympic trials, where she clocked her personal best of 2:21.45, and she hoped to swim faster.

That could bring former world record-holder Leisel Jones’ national record of 2:20.54 into range.

“I’ve been giving it my absolute everything in training and I’d love to see a reflection of those efforts at this meet,’’ she said.

“I’ve had nothing holding me back in this preparation. My body is ready, I just have to get the mental side right and remain positive and calm and enjoy the moment.’’

McKeown had a chastening experience on her Olympic debut in Rio last year.

She qualified fastest for the 200m breaststroke final but lost her composure under the spotlight. She swam slower in the final than she had in her semi-final and eventually finished fifth

She said she was determined never to let such an opportunity slip again.

“It’s such a bitter taste, knowing the time I did in the semi-final would have got me silver and if I had PB’d I could have got gold,’’ she said.

“So it’s all about the could have, should have and I’ve really learned from that.

“I let that pressure and expectation get to me a bit and there’s no way I’m going to let anything hold me back at the next Olympics and every meet between now and then is a stepping stone.

“If I can get this right, then worlds right, then Commonwealth Games right, it’s going to set me up really well for the Tokyo Olympics.’’