Watch Kyle Chalmers Swim The 3rd Fastest 100 Freestyle In History: 45.03

2021 FINA WORLD CUP STOP #3 – DOHA

  • Thursday, October 21st – Saturday, October 23rd
  • Hamad Aquatic Center, Doha, Qatar
  • SCM (25m)
  • Results

The third of four stops at the 2021 FINA World Cup took place from October 21-23 and featuted an electric 100 freestyle performance from Australia’s Kyle Chalmers. Chalmers notched a 45.03 to take gold in the event which marked a new personal best and Australian record, improving upon his own 45.54 from 2018 and Matthew Abood’s 45.64 from 2009.

Chalmers’ swim made him the 3rd fastest 100 freestyler in history behind Amaury Leveaux who holds the record at 44.94 from back in 2009 and Vlad Morozov who swam a 44.95 in 2018. That makes Chalmers just 0.04 seconds away from joining the super-elite sub-44 second club and only 0.10 seconds away from setting a new world record.

Chalmers has ample opportunities to challenge the mark in the coming months as he’s expected to race for London Roar during the ISL playoffs, may race for Australia at the upcomming Short Course World Championships, and then at the ISL finale in early 2022.

Check out the full race video where Chalmers delivered his show-stopping swim alongside the likes of second place finiser Vlad Morozov (46.31), Hwang Sunwoo (46.46), Jesse Puts (47.34), and Blake Pieroni (47.59):

Video courtesty of FINA

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Just give the trophy to the condors already
3 years ago

Chalmers > Dressel

Tony

LMAO. A *one* stroke at *one* distance with *no* WRs journeyman since 2016.

Sub13
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

I find it really annoying when people write “X>Y” on articles. I think it’s childish and silly.

However, you can’t really judge. Your takes are often loud, ignorant and stupid.

Corn Pop
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

He is the reigning World Champ in the 4 x 200 Relay champ . I think that makes it 2 distances.

PFA
3 years ago

Also I just noticed it seems like whenever someone goes a very fast time in the 100, Blakey P. Is always in that field.

Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Pieroni four strokes back. Chalmers so fast he couldn’t make it into his wake.

Luigi
3 years ago

I used to think of Chalmers as a long course, back-end freestyler, not suited for the short pool. How wrong I was.

PFA
Reply to  Luigi
3 years ago

If chalmers ever decided to do a fully rested 100 yard free let’s just say he probably would drop a nasty 40.Low

Guysno
Reply to  PFA
3 years ago

A 45.0 is a sub 40 swim. If you take into consideration CD’s times he was sub 40 2x in his career and since then he has been improving however his fastest scm time is slower than chalmers and it was done during the ISL final which was equal to if not better than his last ncaa’s (Wr’s in 50 fr, 100 fly, 100im and just off in 100free) I’d say 39.7/8 for chalmers.

PFA
Reply to  Guysno
3 years ago

That really depends as everyone is a bit different that would be like saying Morozov should have gone a 39 then and maybe he would have had he finished out his eligibility instead of going pro. Or like Nathan Adrian who went 41.0 in yards but went 45.0 in the Polyeutherine suit in SCM. But my point is that no one is the same and Kyle is good enough to where he could probably drop a time not too far off of Caeleb’s 100 free yards record.

Last edited 3 years ago by PFA
Ledecky will go under 8 minutes in the 800
3 years ago

How about let’s not talk about dressel every time there’s an article on Kyle chalmers

PVK
3 years ago

I want Chalmers to come to the US and casually drop a 40.3-40.5 100 yard free.

Dee
3 years ago

People massively overplay his ‘bad’ underwaters. They’re good, just not Dressel good. Really impressive swim.

M d e
Reply to  Dee
3 years ago

They are bad relative to Dressel which is the only comparison that matters because right now they are the clear 2 best 100 FS swimmers in the world.

Last edited 3 years ago by M d e
Dee
Reply to  M d e
3 years ago

Yeah, but people don’t comment in that context, they just say he has average turns when he doesn’t at all – His turns are better than the vast majority of world class sprint freestylers.

Sub13
Reply to  Dee
3 years ago

This is so true!

“Remember when Lochte beat Phelps’s 2IM world record? I guess Phelps is just bad at 2IM”

Tony
3 years ago

Chalmers doesn’t handle pressure well. Ever since the 100m free gold way back in the 2016 Olympics, all he’s managed is another 100m free gold at 2018 PanPac.

Guysno
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

Lmao he lost because he was racing the only man in the world who could beat him.

Troyy
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

This is a comically bad take but then nearly all your comments are comically bad.

Tony
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

ONE stroke at ONE distance. With no pressure/expectations, Chalmers gets a gold in the 100m free at Olympics 2016. Since then: LC WC in 2017? No. SC WC in 2018? No. LC WC in 2019? No. Olympics 2020/21? No. (Spare me stuff like Commonwealth Games — no Americans, no Russians, ….)

Troyy
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

Funnily enough he was actually there in the crowd.

Tony
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

Oh, btw, where is Chalmers’s name in the list of current LC and SC world records? Oops, it’s not there (let alone multiple times).

Troyy
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

You seem so very pressed and I can’t even figure out why given the swimmer you’re so insanely obsessed about won gold.

Last edited 3 years ago by Troyy
McKeown-Hodges-McKeon-Campbell
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

if chalmers was american this guy would be making excuses for him. take regan smith for example. she was hyped up so much over the past 2 years, yet she didn’t win a single gold medal in tokyo, her only individual backstroke medal was a bronze, she didn’t qualify for the 200 back despite many people saying she didn’t need to taper for trials, she went 57 for every 100 she did in tokyo except for when it actually mattered. mckeown won both gold medals in tokyo, and both silvers were won by the most consistent and overlooked female backstroker from the last 5 years in kylie masse.

yet this guy made excuses for smith, saying that she’s still a… Read more »

Jamesabc
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

Is this a joke?

Kyle Chalmers:
2015 World Junior Championships: Gold in 100 Free
2016 Olympics: Gold in 100 Free
2017 World Champs: Absent due to injury
2018 Pan Pacs: Gold in 100 Free
2018 Comm Games: Silver in 100 Free, Gold in 200 Free
2019 World Champs: Silver in 100 Free with a PB
2020 Olympics: Silver in 100 Free with an equal PB despite serious injuries leading up to it.

Kyle has probably had the most health issues of any high level swimmer and still has managed to win gold or silver at his pet event at every major championships he’s attended for the last 6 years, despite being up against… Read more »

Last edited 3 years ago by Jamesabc
Mike
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

You are talking early, the way he is improving he could get the 0.1 he needs to beat Dressel. He might break the world record next year

yardfan
Reply to  Mike
3 years ago

can’t wait for that.

Verram
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

Do you feel the same about Nathan adrian ? What did he win after london 2012 ?

M d e
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

This is a ridiculous take.

He is one of them most ridiculously good big stage performers of all time. Dressel is just exceptional as well.

Jack
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

If Chalmers consistently swam a couple tenths slower in big finals, then sure. But he swims times that only one man in history could consistently beat. And that man happens to also be in the pool.

Coach Mike 1952
Reply to  Jack
3 years ago

Shades of Laszlo Cseh here too.

whever
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

I’m even surprised Chalmers managed to equal his PB in Tokyo. He had a shoulder surgery last year and his in-season times this year were not half as good as those in 2019, but he still delivered at the most important competition.

Troyy
Reply to  whever
3 years ago

He even admitted after the games that he was low on confidence heading into trials and the games because of the injury and surgery and still delivered a performance that can only be described as clutch af.

Last edited 3 years ago by Troyy
HJones
Reply to  Troyy
3 years ago

If you look at his face after his semifinal performance, where he was “only” 47.8, you could see clear disappointment, and perhaps even some concern. A lot of other swimmers might’ve let that get into their head and they set themselves up for failure in the final. To me, I thought his 47.08 at the OGs was better than his 47.08 at the WCs–he didn’t have the benefit of CD’s draft like in 2019 (which makes about a 0.1-0.3 difference on the 50 if used correctly) and had no idea where CD was the way home, since he was breathing away 2 lanes down.

As I’ve I said on a previous thread, if Chalmers stays healthy and given that… Read more »

Tyson
Reply to  Tony
3 years ago

So all those relays we’ve watched him chase down medals or wins from nowhere you consider not handling pressure well. You are joking!