Kyle Chalmers

Fast Facts

Sport: Swimming
Event: 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle
Olympic History: Rio 2016 (gold & x2 bronze), Tokyo 2020 (silver & x2 bronze)
Highlights: Winning gold at Rio 2016
Year Born: 1998
State Born: SA

About Kyle

At the 2016 Games, in Rio Kyle Chalmers wrote his name into Australian history by becoming the fourth Australian - after Jon Henricks (1956), John Devittt (1960) and Michael Wenden (1968) – to win the prestigious Olympic men’s 100m freestyle title. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, he came within a whisker of joining an even more illustrious list.

Only four men in the history of the sport have won and then defended the 100m freestyle title, Americans Duke Kahanamoku (1912, 1920) and Johnny Weismuller (1924, 1928), Russian Aleksandr Popov (1992, 1996) and Holland’s Pieter van den Hoogenband (2000, 2004). The build-up to the final in Japan resembled the prelude to a world heavyweight title fight, Kyle in one corner, American superstar Caeleb Dressel in the other.

Australians had learned in Rio not to be alarmed if Kyle fell back early in the race because he won there by storming home from seventh at the turn, but this time he left himself just a little too much to do. Even though he made up a quarter of a second on Dressel in a storming last lap, he finished an agonising .06sec behind the American, capturing the silver in a pb-equalling time of 47.08sec. He would later add a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay, anchoring in the fifth fastest relay split of all-time to ensure Australia made it to the podium.

2014 Youth Olympian Kyle Chalmers made his World Championships debut in 2015 with a fantastic 47.92 second leg in the Men's 4x100m freestyle relay. He also raced in the 4x100m medley heats where he swam even faster (47.86) to guide his team to the final where they won the silver medal.

One week after competing in his first World Championships, Chalmers appeared at the World Junior Championships in Singapore, winning seven medals, including three gold. He also broke Cameron McEvoy’s 17 year national record by winning the 100m freestyle in 48.47 seconds. 

Announcing himself as the new star of Australian swimming, Kyle stormed home to win the Rio 2016 Olympics men’s 100 metres freestyle final. 

The South Australian came from nowhere to finally snatch the coveted crown, becoming the first Aussie male to do so since Michael Wenden in Mexico City in 1968.

Chalmers, who was 18 at the Games, touched seventh in the field of eight at the halfway mark before unleashing a barnstorming finish to become Australia’s youngest Olympic swimming champion since Ian Thorpe in 2000. He swam a huge personal best to break his own world junior record in a time of 47.58 seconds.

Competing on home soil at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Chalmers broke three games records while winning gold in the men’s 200m freestyle, the 4x100m freestyle relay, the 4x100m medley relay, the 4x200m freestyle relay, as well as collecting silver in the 100m freestyle. 

In the 2019 World Championships, Chalmers won gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, silver in the men’s 100m freestyle and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. 

He battled a number of injuries in the lead-up to the Tokyo Games, including having heart surgery and a shoulder operation but still dominated the freestyle sprints at the Olympic trials, winning the 100m and 200m events. 

He swam a reduced program at the 2022 Budapest world championships but still helped Australia set a world record in winning gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, while helping the men’s 4x100m freestyle quartet to bronze. But, a few weeks later, he swam a full range of events at tah e Birmingham Commonwealth Games, winning the 100m freestyle and three relay gold medals while also helping Australia to the men’s medley relay silver.

The South Australian has already secured his place as one of the country’s greatest freestyle sprinters and most dependable relay swimmers. And now he is closing rapidly on his third Olympics in Paris in 2024.