The Aussie sprinter they call “King” Kyle Chalmers down under kept kid power at bay and his crown in tact with a slashing 100m freestyle win on the final night of the Australian Championships tonight at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
Chalmers (Marion, SA), the 24-year-old Olympic gold and silver medallist from 2016 and 2020 respectively, stopped the clock in 48.00 seconds flat – the fifth time in the world this year.
KING AND THE KID: Kyle Chalmers and Kai Taylor at the end of the men’s 100m freestyle. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
The big South Australian powered home ahead of 17-year-old breakthrough boy Kai Taylor (St Peters Western, QLD) 48.41 with 19-year-old Commonwealth Games find from 2022, Flynn Southam (Bond, QLD) third home in 48.53.
Chalmers didn’t hold back, going through the first 50m in 23.25 from Taylor (23.43) and Southam (23.89) and the country’s premier freestyle sprinter had enough to keep the youngsters at bay – with Southam, known for his backend speed clocking the fastest return 50 of 24.64 – but it was all Chalmers.
Earlier in the week it was Taylor, the exciting young son of Australian swimming legend, two time Olympic medallist and former world champion, Hayley Lewis, who claimed his maiden Australian title in the 200m freestyle, ahead of Southam, who has raced non-stop through the Australian Age and Open.
Chalmers was full of praise for his young rivals, saying he couldn’t wait to see them on the Australian relay teams as they prepare for the Paris campaign and in the short term, en-route to the June World Championship Trials in Melbourne as they get set for Fukuoka in July.
“They are the reason I get up every day – they inspire me to get up and get after it and they are the future,” said Chalmers, who admitted he has never been happier in his swimming career.
“I’m actually working as a builders labourer two or three times a week and as much as it hurts me, I’m loving it and I’ve never been happier.”
TRADING PLACES: Australia’s blue collar Olympian Matt Temple is back on the tools and its paying off in the pool. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia).
And the man who inspired his “tradie mate”- fellow Marion Olympian and scaffolder Matt Temple, who joins Chalmers on the building sites of Adelaide showed that it is doing him no harm with more than a tradesman like performance to win the 200m butterfly in 1:56.96.
Temple, the 23-year-old who came to join Chalmers and coach Peter Bishop from Melbourne after the Tokyo Games, flew home to win a satisfying National title ahead of former Western Australian 19-year-old Ruan Van Der Riet (USC Spartans, QLD) 1:59.22 and defending champion Bowen Gough (Griffith University, QLD) third in 1:59.42.