Australia’s Kyle Chalmers Lowers His Own 100m Freestyle Age Record – 48.6

by Retta Race 86

April 07th, 2015 Australia, International, News

Australian teen sprintster Kyle Chalmers lowered his fresh new 100m freestyle age record for 16-year old boys by another two tenths in the men’s final at the 2015 Australian Swimming Championships & World Championship Trials.  Chalmers’ new mark is 48.69, which surpassed his record of 48.89 set in the semis, earning him fourth place in a field deep with man-speed in the form of winner Cameron McEvoy, runner-up James Magnussen and third-place finisher Tomasso D’Orsogna.   Before yesterday’s clocking by Chalmers, the record had stood at 49.70, held by McEvoy from 2011.

The difference in the two times comes down to Chalmers’ taking it out just a tad quicker in his finals race, as follows:

Kyle Chalmers, courtesy of Delly Carr / Sportshoot & Swimming AustraliaChalmers’ splits in semis for 48.89: 23.77/25.12

Chalmers’ splits in finals for 48.69: 23.57 / 25.12

According to the Courier Mail, Chalmers’ first words out of the pool were “oh, if only I had 10m more”.  According to his coach, Shelly Jarrett, Chalmers “knew he was capable of something pretty awesome and breaking the 49s was pretty amazing for us.  He was very happy.”

With distance legend Grant Hackett already making the Australian World Championships team via his fourth-place finish in the men’s 200m freestyle, it makes for quite the age range on the Dolphins’ roster with Chalmers now most likely on the squad.  Between these two swimmers alone, there is about an 18 year age difference.

Chalmers will get a chance to throw down even more velocity as he will be contesting the 50m freestyle, whose prelims start on Wednesday.  He is seeded 9th with an entry time of 22.68.

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Gina Rhinestone
9 years ago

The boys were all ok , nothing fantastic like Madeline Groves 2 mins 5.4 fly .

Anyone who breaks MaryT’s superdooper time ought get their own post. (except PEDs).

Pvdh
9 years ago

Usa is heading into a down period in freestyle in the men’s side just as the women are on the rise. Which Interesting because they have guys in almost every other event that has potential to dominate. I really think it hinges on dressel in 2016. If he can come through in the 100, like we know he can, and if feigen gets back into shape, they have a good shot. But right now Adrian is there only guarantee sub 48. Australia will have 3 in 2016. Though I worry magnussen won’t be a threat for long in the 100 the way he’s going. Mcevoy is my absolute favorite to win the 100 at every event for the next 5… Read more »

Gina Rhinestone
Reply to  Pvdh
9 years ago

Magnussen is World & Commonwealth games champ. That is hardly ‘shrinking”. Both have made big changes in coaches & support staff since 2013 . Macevoy is also trying to find new pathways after a early 2014 breakout & slower times at Comm Games (& subsequent silvers).

I don’t know many swimmers who , being told they must swim 48.3 on X day , would pull it out. These 2 did.

Unlike some other likely competitors , these top 4 boys have no PED suspicions.

aswimfan
Reply to  Gina Rhinestone
9 years ago

“Unlike some other likely competitors , these top 4 boys have no PED suspicions.”

Totally agree with this. These some other sprinters from those countries (if you follow swimming you know who they are) certainly warrant suspicion, and some have even tested positive to banned substances.

Kylecw
9 years ago

I’m expecting an avalanche of down votes for this but I’m surprised that everyone thinks France is golden in the 4×100. There are a lot of question marks right now.

1. Will Agnel return to form? Maybe… Feel he’d have a better chance under pellerin. So far it seems unlikely.

2. The hero of 2013, Gilot is up there in age, 32 by rio. He was a second slower in 2014… It is the down year though so we’ll see this summer where he is.

3. How much is manadou progressing as a 100 freestyler? We have very limited data to observe a trend with, and a very small sample size to detect whether or not he steps up for… Read more »

Philip Johnson
Reply to  Kylecw
9 years ago

Manadou won’t even be swimming in the relays this summer right? I thought he was focusing on the 50s.

kylecw
Reply to  Philip Johnson
9 years ago

I believe that’s the plan. So no answers there.

kylecw
Reply to  kylecw
9 years ago

I don’t fully understand that decision. I thought it was to maintain secrecy but, it’s comparable to Adrian skipping the relay. How would secrecy help him? Everyone is going to train as hard regardless.

aswimfan
Reply to  kylecw
9 years ago

Well, they are French, what do you expect.
They like to complicate things, and be secretive is Sexy.

Lol. Just kidding. Well, maybe half kidding 😀

aswimfan
Reply to  kylecw
9 years ago

Well, Manadou is French and I heard they like to complicate things.

J/k.

HKSWIMMER`
Reply to  Philip Johnson
9 years ago

Manaudou will swim the relays this summer. French selection policy for relays is different, he didn’t need to swim that for trials

HKSWIMMER
9 years ago

I’m just not sure how fast Dressel will be able to go. I know he’s been hailed as the next big thing – and indeed he has a lot of good times under his belt – but watching him win the 50y fr at NCAA’s was both encouraging and worrying. His stroke increasingly reminds me of a ‘digger’, not a stroke that will hold up in LCM.

I hope to be proven wrong, but I stick to my prediction that France will win it in Kazan!

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  HKSWIMMER
9 years ago

He went sub-49 as a 16 year-old. That certainly bodes well. We’ll see if he can get his mojo back by next year.

aswimfan
Reply to  TheTroubleWithX
9 years ago

Dressel certainly did not go sub 49 as a 16 yo.
Dressel was 49.28 (15/16 NAG) as 16 yo, and his 17/18 NAG is 48.97

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  aswimfan
9 years ago

Oops, forgot that he turned 17 in between national champs and world junior championships in 2013.

9 years ago

To touch on M Palota’s point above. Here is some data on the 200 IM from September 2013 thru today… (not including Aussie Nats)

Again, Country- Fina B, Fina A, London Semi, London Final, London Medal

AUS- 13, 5, 6, 2, 0
JPN- 46, 8, 8, 3, 1
USA- 44, 8, 10, 4, 2
EUR- 112, 11, 14, 3, 0

Suprised that Japan holds their own with us there, all the way through. Thought theyd be like Australia where their top tier hangs but the B cut depth falls off…

Our depth at the top end of the 200m IM rivals and beats that of all of Europe…

Conversely, in the 100m Free…

USA- 81, 13, 6,… Read more »

samuel huntington
9 years ago

100 free future – definitely Conger and Dressel. Perhaps Haas and Malone, but maybe a few years away. Would have been Condorelli but he is for Canada I guess. Does Murphy swim 100 free long course? Others to consider at some point in the future – James Jones, Michael Andrew, Blake Pieroni, Paul Powers, Matt Ellis

SwimGeek
Reply to  samuel huntington
9 years ago

Yes to all of these. And maybe Clark Smith in 5 years? 6’9″ must translate to LC well!

Reply to  SwimGeek
9 years ago

5 years? Jeepers… Clark Smith is a year younger than Cameron McEvoy.

Reply to  samuel huntington
9 years ago

Future future future… Kazan is this summer and Trials for Rio is 15 months away. Will any of those names be going 47 in 15 months? I don’t think so. I hope so. But I don’t think so.

samuel huntington
Reply to  Hulk Swim
9 years ago

Rio is coming very very fast, i don’t know if any of these guys will be ready, Conger needs to drop backstroke completely and Dressel needs to fix whatever plagued him at NCAAs

TheTroubleWithX
Reply to  Hulk Swim
9 years ago

47 on a flat start? I’d say 1:2 odds on Dressel getting there by trials. I can definitely see Conger going 48 low-to-mid at trials, and pulling a Grevers-like 47.5 on a relay start in Rio.

john26
9 years ago

In response to all the relay talk regarding America’s chances- allow me to make a very controversial prediction:
If Phelps is not reinstated for Kazan, the USA will most likely finish outside the medals this summer. They’ll bag bronze if they’re very lucky and no higher.

Similarly, if Phelps isn’t in Kazan, theyll finish Silver- highest. I’m thinking bronze, silver equally likely.

Reply to  john26
9 years ago

That’s not bold… I’d say bold is saying they’ll get a medal. with no Phelps they will be fortunate to be 5th. I didn’t include Japan in my earlier stats for some reason but they also come into the mix.

I’m guessing 5th is most likely. I’d say 6th is more likely than 3rd.

Reply to  john26
9 years ago

Look at the roster…

Adrian, Dwyer, Ervin, Feigen, Grevers and Lochte.

Also on the roster are Malone, Youngquist, McClean, Murphy, Shields, Phillips

Honestly I’d rather see Murphy swim than Dwyer, Grevers or Lochte.

SwimGeek
Reply to  Hulk Swim
9 years ago

Yes. I’d love to see what Murphy could do in 100 free LC! After NCAAs and his 41.1 relay split in the last event of the meet (his 13th or 14th swim in 3 days!), he said his 3rd best event is definitely the 100 free — he just can’t do it b/c it falls immediately after the 2 back. Let’s see Murphy in the 100 free at Trials. I don’t care if we have to rely on backstrokers and IMers — if they are the fastest freestylers, so be it.

Reply to  SwimGeek
9 years ago

But if they are going 47 highs and 48 lows…it’s irrelevant in regards to getting a medal, let alone winning.

Reply to  SwimGeek
9 years ago

We are the USA. We should have a B Relay that can medal. We are double the 100m depth of everyone. Yet our top tier quality is slightly behind a handful of countries. That’s messed up.

HKSWIMMER
Reply to  john26
9 years ago

Hulk definitely has a point. If I were to call it myself I’d say the medals are going to be between France, Brazil and Russia this year.

Reply to  HKSWIMMER
9 years ago

I have it as AUS, RUS, FRA then BRA…but any order out of those 4 seem reasonable to me.

And the common thread on those 4? Most of their 6 members will be pure short freestylers.

We clearly have the most Fina Level athletes of any country. Maybe its time to stop treating them all like the next Phelps and Lochte trying to swim 5 individuals and 3 relays and focus on being the next Piersol, Crocker, Hansen and Lezak (i.e. specialists who dominate their selected event).

jd14
Reply to  john26
9 years ago

I’ll go out on a limb and say a 3:10 wins it in Kazan. I’m not sure if something like a 3:11.8 or 9 will make the medal stand (which I feel is entirely possible given the guys we have on the roster including Phelps if he’s reinstated). I also feel if Ryan Murphy can keep showing improvement in his freestyle (given his performance in Austin and his relay splits at NCs) he may find himself swimming in the relay heats. This might be a viable option, if Phelps isn’t for some reason named to roster, in order to have two guys rested for the final of that relay. Thoughts? Critics? :/

Reply to  jd14
9 years ago

I don’t like it but I agree we need Murphy to swim in prelims.

Imagine if when we were transitioning from Lenny to Piersol we were saying “we really need Piersol to swim heats in the relay if we stand a chance to medal”.

Ugh.

jd14
Reply to  Hulk Swim
9 years ago

If Dwyer, Ervin, Murphy, and Grevers can throw together a relay that’s better than 3:15 we’re in and we’re good. Might not have the center lane, but at least we’re in 😛

Reply to  jd14
9 years ago

They’ll make finals!!! Yayyyyy!!! Woohooo!!! Pop the champagne, we finaled!!!

Reply to  jd14
9 years ago

Our goal HAS to be to win. And if we aren’t winning we need to ask why.

We can’t just keep counting on the ‘good old USA relay spirit’… because that ignores that there are two other countries who clearly give a crap about this relay and are Faster than us across the board. We’ve gotten away with it in the past- but that was when we also had some seriously fast top 8 type sprinters of our own…

5 of our guys from Beijing in 2008 could have semifinaled individually. Not so sure this time around. We’ve got 2 who I feel good saying that about for Rio. No matter how spirited they are… speed wins.

HKSWIMMER
9 years ago

I love how this has turned into a partial discussion of who will win the 4×100 in Kazan and Rio, as well as the individual title for the 100fr.

My two cents? I don’t think Mags is going to be able to defend his title. Really unimpressive – his stroke seems a lot more rushed than before. One thing I’ve noticed from the video is that he’s also definitely lost bulk since going to his new training regime. Maybe that’s affected his power-weight ratio?

I’m not sure how Morozov will do after a comparatively lacklustre 2014. I hope he’ll be back in the mix, but it’s always hard to tell. He was good at SC worlds but not stellar –… Read more »

Reply to  HKSWIMMER
9 years ago

I like Russia… solid 1-6 and Sedov is coming along… but they have 4 guys who can be sub 48 this summer for sure… will be in that 3:10 range.

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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