Australia’s Chalmers crawls to gold in 100m freestyle

Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers thrived in the men’s 100meter freestyle final marked by a new batch of swimming sprinters at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, winning the gold medal with a time of 47.58 seconds.

Chalmers, only 18, marked the fastest time in the preliminary rounds, along with two talented youths, American Caeleb Dressel and British Duncan Scott, both present at the final today.

Chalmers was at first surpassed by American Nathan Adrian, the London 2012 gold medalist seeking to retain his Olympic title in Rio, a feat only accomplished by legends such as Johnny Weissmuller, Alexander Popov or Pieter van den Hoogenband.

His dream, however, was thwarted by the young Chalmers who delivered an explosive finish in the last 50 meters. The Australian swimmer stormed from seventh to first after completing the second lap in 24.44 seconds.

He clocked 0.64 seconds faster than Nathan Adrian in the 50meter final stretch. The defending champion’s final mark of 47.85 seconds not only knocked him from the top spot of the podium but also pushed him behind Belgian Pieter Timmers who edged the American swimmer out with a time of 47.80 seconds to clinch silver. EFE