Kyle Chalmers On Worlds Qualification: “The 50 Is Such A Weird Event”

2025 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS

• Monday, June 9th – Saturday, June 14th
• SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Oaklands Park, South Australia
• Prelims at 11am local (9:30pm ET night before)/Finals at 7:30pm local (6:00am ET) nights 1&2; 7pm local (5:30am ET) nights 3-6
• LCM (50m)
• Swimming Australia World Championships Selection Criteria
• Meet Central
• Start List
• Heat Sheets
• Results
• Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2  | Day 3

Emotions have been running high at the SA Aquatic & Leisure Centre as Australian athletes try to turn in their best performances in the hopes of qualifying for this summer’s World Championships.

Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan was among tonight’s winners, topping the women’s 200m free podium to add the event to the 50m and 100m backstroke races in which she’s already qualified for Singapore.

O’Callaghan’s relief and joy were expressed through tears in her post-race interview, with the 21-year-old stating, “You know, it was really stressful for me. And I think even though it’s not the time I exactly wanted, it’s just hard to, like, come back.

“I’d say this lead-up has been the hardest thing I’ve experienced so far.

“I don’t think there’s been anything as hard as this, coming here and trying to race and trying to, you know, defend my Olympic status in a way.

“But just happy that I stood up and just raced my main event.” (AFP)

O’Callaghan was extremely successful in Paris, winning this 200m freestyle event in addition to claiming 4 relay medals, including gold in both the women’s 4x200m free and 4x200m free relays.

Cameron McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers also qualified for Worlds with the Olympic pair finishing in respective first and second places in the men’s 50m freestyle.

McEvoy logged a season-best of 21.30 while Chalmers notched a new lifetime best of 21.68. Both men are expecting their first children to be born in the next few months.

On tonight’s outing, 31-year-old McEvoy stated, “My time was quicker than last year Olympic trials, so I’ll take it.

“To be in this spot, is pretty special. To have that type of ability under my belt, I think that time was world number one this year, so far. That’ll probably change, but still nice in this moment.

“I definitely think I can go faster before the world champs; how much though I’m not sure.

“But longer term, like more LA (2028 Olympic) levels to the future, I think, yeah, there’s a lot more I can improve.” (Yahoo)

For his part, 26-year-old Chalmers told Swimming Australia, “Yeah, it’s extremely satisfying (to swim a PB). I’ve been putting a lot of work into not necessarily the 50m, but my speed work. So this morning, I was a little bit disheartened with how hard I pushed for it.” Chalmers clocked 22.07 in this morning’s heats.

“But the 50m is such a weird event, like you try harder, but you actually go slower. This morning I took four more strokes over a 50m which is a lot more than I did in Norway when I did my PB, but you’re just spinning your arms and not holding any water. So tonight, I had to really trust myself and trust what I’ve been doing in training and just try and stay relaxed in an environment that is a little bit foreign for me. I’m not a 50m (freestyle) swimmer so I never really know what’s going to happen.”