Another highly anticipated race in the swimming pool at the Rio Olympics 2016, the Men’s 100 metre free is almost upon us, with some highly talented sprinters lined up not just for Gold, but also to take a crack at Cesar Cielo’s 2009 World Record of 46.91 seconds. The previous three nights of swimming have seen some awesome American dominance, but the 100 free is seeing some fierce Australian domination.
Cameron McEvoy – Aussie spearhead
This budding physicist, from down under, nearly broke Cielo’s record, when he clocked 47.04 seconds at his nation's Olympic trials. Currently the fastest sprinter in the world, he is having a breakthrough 2016, with national titles in 50/100/200 metre free. McEvoy who was slated to participate in all three at Rio, dropped the 200 free from an exhausting programme.
He has qualified fourth fastest for the finals, with a timing of 47.93 seconds.
Kyle Chalmers – the surprise package
Chalmers booked his spot on the plane to Rio with a silver in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2016 Australian Championships. He went into the final seeded fourth, but had a stunning race to beat out some tough competition, Magnussen included. Chalmers swam a 48.03, shattering his own Junior World Record in the process.
At the 2015 World Junior Championships, Chalmers claimed seven medals and a Championship record.
Kyle Chalmers, all of 18 years of age, broke his own Junior world record twice, to qualify for the tonight’s Olympic finals, with jaw-dropping times of 48.03 and 47.88 seconds in the prelims and semis respectively.
Parallels to McEvoy
Reminiscent of McEvoy at London Olympics, Chalmers became the Junior World Champion in the 50 and 100 freestyle during the summer prior to his first Olympics. For an athlete in his first Olympics, he has kicked off his Rio campaign in stellar fashion, clocking mighty quick splits of 47.04 and 47.38 in the prelims and finals, respectively of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Those marks were some of the quickest of the entire field.
Looking at the broader picture, Chalmers could not have arrived at a better time for the Aussies. His steadily improving sprinting graph, has coincided with the shoulder injury and subsequent withdrawal of James Magnussen from last year’s Kazan World Championships.
Currently ranked 8th in the world, this young Aussie would be more than a handful for the rest of the field in his first Olympic final.
Nathan Adrian – The defending Olympic Champion
Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Adrian almost did not make the semi-finals as he qualified 16th with a poor timing of 48.58. But once he did he was a man on a mission in the semis, clocking the fastest timing of all the qualifiers..47.83 seconds.
Another swimmer having a great 2016, he clocked 47.72 in US Olympic trials to book his RIO ticket. That swim was his 2nd fastest ever, behind only the 47.52 that he swam to overcome heavy favorite James Magnussen by a hundredth for the gold in 2012, proving that he can up the ante in a tight racing situation.
Adrian is one of those swimmers who almost always swims faster at the Worlds, Pan-Pacs or the Olympics as compared to the trials. That’s sheer class for you.
The second American Caeleb Dressel, ducked 48 seconds for the first time in his career to reach his first final with his 47.97s in the semis. This is his only individual event, so Dressel has been able to concentrate his energies in the 100 free – a bit like Adrian did at the 2012 Olympics.
The Canadian Santo Condorelli is the latest entrant to the sub-48 club. Clocking a personal best of 47.93 seconds to qualify for his first Olympic final, the Canadian has tremendous front end speed as was evident at 2015 Worlds, when he hit the wall first at 50 metres, but tired out in the second 50 to end up fourth. If either McEvoy or Adrian have an off day, trust the Canadian to be in serious contention for a medal.
All set for some sparks to fly, as another chapter in the Aussie - USA swimming rivalry is all set to be written.
