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)
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.
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
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