After Relay Blitz in Budapest, Kyle Chalmers Looking to Commonwealth Games for 100 Free Opportunity
Kyle Chalmers originally planned to skip the World Championships. The 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 freestyle and silver medalist in 2021 underwent shoulder surgery in December, and he had planned on a short physical and mental refresh before focusing on the Commonwealth Games later in the year. It was only a last-minute opportunity to race butterfly on the global level that drew him to Budapest, but he ended up 22nd in his only individual event.
But Chalmers was on the Australian team, and that meant he was eligible for relays — and Chalmers has always delivered huge splits when his country has needed him. In Tokyo, he had the fastest split in the field in the 400 free relay final (46.44) as he lifted his team from sixth place into bronze-medal position on the anchor leg.
Chalmers came through again in Budapest with a 46.60 anchor split to bring Australia from fifth place to a surprising silver in the men’s 400 free relay and another 46-second leg to give Australia’s quartet a lead it would not relinquish in the mixed 400 free relay final, and the team ended up breaking a world record. His charging anchor leg on the men’s medley relay left the team just a half-second shy of the medals.
Following the medley relay, Chalmers was chippy when speaking with reporters in the mixed zone after he saw a video clip calling his 100 fly performance a “flop.”
“It’s nice to hear you say that,” Chalmers said as a reporter credited him with another 46-second performance. “It’s a big change from yesterday’s media that came out after my 100 butterfly. I dare anyone to say that it’s a flop or I’m undeserving of this spot. I do my thing for the relay. It’s great to win, great to get a world record, and it’s all I can ask for.”
Chalmers has made huge strides in butterfly over the last year, and he has a best time of 51.67 in the 100 fly. He has made clear his interest in racing the event at the Paris Olympics. But the stroke that made Chalmers famous and an Olympic gold medalist as a teenager is freestyle, and he has masterful talent in the blue-ribband event.
In the Tokyo 100 free final, the always-fast-finishing Australian surged over the final 35 meters, and for a moment, it appeared he might run down rival Caeleb Dressel for gold. But in the end, Chalmers fell just six hundredths short, and his final time of 47.08, which matched his personal best, left him with a silver.
Then, during a quiet post-Olympic fall, Chalmers swam some of the finest races of his career between ISL competitions and the FINA World Cup. He nearly broke Amaury Leveaux’s world record in the short course meters 100 free at a World Cup stop in Doha, his mark of 45.03 coming up less than a tenth short, but one week later, he broke through with a 44.84 to finally top a 13-year-old record from the supersuit era.
The short course stretch did not have the perfect ending as his shoulder injury forced him to withdraw from the Short Course World Championships, but maybe, finally, Chalmers was ready to break through. After the close loss to Dressel in the 100 free final in Tokyo and a nearly-identical result two years earlier at the Gwangju World Championships, was the momentum finally swinging in favor of the Australian? In 2022, could Chalmers reclaim the mantle of world’s best 100 freestyler, the title he had not held since 2016?
The landscape of the 100 free shifted at the World Championships as Dressel withdrew from the event after prelims while 17-year-old David Popovici established himself as the world’s dominant performer. One day after swimming the fastest time in a decade in the 200 free on the way to a world title, Popovici blasted a mark of 47.13 in the 100 free semis. That put the world record, Cesar Cielo’s 46.91 from 2009, in serious jeopardy, although Popovici ended up swimming a bit slower (47.58) as he edged out a tight field for gold in the final.
Still, that semifinal swim means the Romanian teenager is the current standard-bearer in the 100 free, and while his future in the sport is clearly promising, his grip on top status in the event is tenuous. Chalmers will have a chance to respond at the Commonwealth Games in a few weeks. Can he dip into that 47-low range? Chalmers should have a battle on his hands with World Championships bronze medalist Josh Liendo of Canada in the field, but Liendo will be hard-pressed to match Chalmers’ finishing surge. A swim in the 47-mid range would likely be enough for gold, but to truly reassert himself on the global stage, Chalmers will need to approach or surpass Popovici’s best.
After the close silver medals to Dressel, the superb short course swimming in late 2021, a shoulder surgery, a foray into butterfly and the usual relay excellence, Birmingham, England, on August 1 will be the opportunity for Chalmers to show how he stacks up in today’s 100 freestyle.
I’m pretty sure Chalmers has a PB faster than 51.67 as you claim ?