Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last month, you know that World Aquatics announced the addition of 50s of backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games event lineup.
The swimming community’s response has been mostly positive, with Olympians and swim enthusiasts vocalizing their excitement for these rapid-fire races.
Speculation of who potentially could be the first-ever 50m sprint Olympic champions is happening all over the world and it’s not just limited to swim fans in the stands.
World Aquatics recently asked Australian Olympic multi-medalist Kyle Chalmers who could be at the top of the podiums just about three years from now.
To start, he’s not shy about pegging an Aussie duo for the men’s and women’s 50m backstroke, identifying Isaac Cooper and Kaylee McKeown as the inaugural champions.
Via the social media post below, hear who else Chalmers has tabbed for gold and his reasoning for the predictions.
Kyle Chalmers Who have you got for the 50m in @LA28 😉 we are going to back at this 3 years from now and check these answers 💪 pic.twitter.com/Ka65sIhvuX
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) May 1, 2025
Chalmers’ Predictions:
- 50m back – Isaac Cooper (AUS) & Kaylee McKeown (AUS)
- 50m breast – Adam Peaty (GBR) & Ruta Meilutyte (LTU)
- 50m free/fly – Sarah Sjostrom (SWE)
lol @ Cooper. The rest seem realistic, but I doubt we’re not getting a single winner who hasn’t previously won the event at Worlds level
I think Kylie Masse is a huge contender for the 50 bk gold. She’s been first to the wall in many of her 100 bk races against Kaylee. This is one event that will hopefully get her to the Games in LA.
Any woman in the 27.1 range has a shot, including Masse. Kaylee has quite a buffer if you use her PB but anything can happen in a 50.
In saying that, Masse is more of a “fly and die” compared to Kaylee’s back end, so I don’t think the first 50 of the 100 is really relevant.
Women
Kaylee
Ruta
Gretchen
Sarah
Men
KK
Peaty
Dressel
McEvoy/Dressel
I know I’m biased towards daddy D yall please don’t hate. But if he really focuses on the 50s it’s not hard to see him winning fly. 50 free will be tougher because of Cam and others but I think he’s got a good shot
I can’t see Dressel winning.
Dressel was the best swimmer in the world from 2017-2021, and by far the most dominant 50 freestyler.
He took 8 months off from the sport from 2022-2023 after already taking time off after Tokyo. Paris was a disappointment, and he might not be able to handle a heavy load anymore, but if he focuses just on the 50s and drops the 100s and relays, you can’t count him out.
Unless Dressel somehow gets his amazing start back that he had before 2022, I don’t see him winning
Cant see gretchen beating Sarah also
Agreed, Sarah is almost certainly a lock for 50 fly and free. Ruta would be a super cool story but she’s been a bit inconsistent these past few years. Hard to make a prediction here, I wouldn’t be surprised if some 15 year old phenom shows up and takes it. 50 back is Kaylee’s to lose.
KK has the best shot at 50 back. I’m also unsure about 50 breast for the men – Peaty is aging and his best time is from 2017, I would probably bet on Qin if I had to right now. 50 fly I would bet on Ponti given his trajectory, and for the 50 free I’d go with McEvoy
I get the love for Sarah and some of the other aging swimmers, but historically speaking, only one swimming gold medalist in history has been older than her age will be in Los Angeles, which will be a few weeks shy of turning 35. SwimSwam did an article about this the year before Paris:
https://swimswam.com/the-oldest-olympic-champions-in-swimming-history/
Obviously some names would be added in Paris, including Sarah, but to consider her a lock given that there are three years for other swimmers to advance who are much younger, and the unknown effects of time on her, I believe it is far more open a race. I’m not saying she won’t win, but Gretchen or someone else can definitely beat her.
Especially since we haven’t really seen Gretchen race a LC 50 fly at a big meet in well over a year. It would have been cool to see how her world recording breaking 100 fly form translated to the 50. It wouldn’t be wise to rule Gretchen out of contending in this event at a home games particularly as we don’t how Sara will shape up 3 years from now after stepping away for a bit.
tried to sneak isaac cooper in there 💀💀
If Isaac wins back and MA wins breast I think I’d give up on swimming and become a fan of wrestling or smth idek
ofc the chances of that happening are like 1/1,000,000 but it’s an amusing proposition
100% would be Kolesnikov in the 50 back
50’s are boring. No strategy
No strategy, but a lot of technical execution.
Unfortunately, all you see on TV is a lot of splashing. Maybe a couple seconds of slow motion replay…
This is a valid point
some of this depends on the producer and how you decide to use the cameras available. Should be able to get some good angles etc live. Maybe the producers and camera men needs some practice.
Not really something that comes across to the viewer, which is why the 50s being added is such a boring concept. Yay 6 more time trials.
The exciting part of the 50 race is the challenge of executing the perfect race. The most exciting is when a person is able to execute in a way that creates a step difference to the competition. Like Sjostrom’s no breath 50 fly. This is where people need to try something revolutionary to beat perfection.
Ruta really would be a great story.
Going with Walsh 50 fly and Armstrong 50 back
50 br is a toss up to me because there will be no King and not so sure Ruta will be at that level in 2028
Same for the men’s 50 br. Not sure if Peaty can be that elite in 2028. Certainly a contender, but not a favorite like he was from 2016-2021
There’s like 4 Russians who I’d put ahead of Armstrong in the 50 back and that’s just at the moment. I can imagine they will have more talent coming through given they’ll most likely be allowed to participate in LA
Why no King? Haven’t seen any news for her recently but she should have plenty of reasons to go for it with the home Olympics and 50s of stroke addition. I always thought she stretched herself too far for the 200 (once she started medaling in the 200s, she stopped going 1:04s), so if she focuses on the 50/100 and can get back to 1:04 she should be in contention for gold
Wonder if the 50 breaststroke might bring Ali A. out of retirement?
King said she’s done. And wouldn’t be back for the 2028 Olympics.
Yeah, she didn’t say exactly when retirement would be, but she did say Paris was her last Olympics.
How can u NOT think Koles will win the 50bk…
Ruta is swimming more seriously than Armstrong now.