Kyle Chalmers says he has faith that his Chinese rival Pan Zhanle was drug-free when he smashed the 100m freestyle world record at the Olympics on Thursday morning (AEST).
Lining up for his third consecutive 100m freestyle Olympic final, Chalmers was one of the favourites for a medal in his pet event.
But Pan, who idolised Chalmers at age 11 when the Australian won gold in the same event at Rio 2016, was never headed in a blinding performance that bettered his own world record by a staggering 0.40 seconds.
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An inevitable cloud of doubt has been cast over Chinese swimmers — albeit unfairly so — since revelations that 23 swimmers from China tested positive to a banned substance before the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Pan was not in the group of 23, which was still allowed to compete in Tokyo after world anti-doping authorities accepted China’s explanation the swimmers had eaten contaminated food at a team hotel.
Regardless, Chalmers trusts his rival.
“I do everything I possibly can to win the race and trust everyone’s doing the same as I am, staying true to the integrity of sport,” silver medallist Chalmers said afterwards.
“I trust that … he (Pan) deserves that gold medal.”
In Paris, Pan clocked 46.40 seconds, 0.40 inside his previous benchmark, to win with a time Chalmers (47.48) described as “crazy”.
“It’s a time I never dreamed or saw as possible,” Chalmers said.
“The last 15 metres … I thought I could be dead last because he was so far ahead of me.”
Pan’s win, and the margin thereof, broke all sorts of records, according to Australian sports statistician InsightLane.
“Pan Zhanle lowering the men’s 100m freestyle world record by 0.40 seconds is the biggest single WR reduction in that event since 1976,” InisghtLane wrote.
“It took 16 years for the men’s 100m freestyle world record to lose 0.4 seconds from 47.20 (2008) to 46.80 (2024).
“It took another five months for it to lose another 0.4 seconds from 46.80 (February 2024) to 46.40 (July 2024).
“Pan Zhanle’s winning margin of 1.08 seconds in men’s 100m freestyle final is the largest in the event since 1928.”
Chalmers, meantime, now has consecutive Olympic silver medals to follow his 2016 gold in the blue riband event.
His compatriot Zac Stubblety-Cook also won silver on Wednesday night in an attempted defence of his men’s 200m breaststroke title.
And it took an Olympic record by French megastar Leon Marchand to beat him.
Stubblety-Cook finished in the wake of Marchand, who collected two gold medals within an hour amid raucous support from his parochial home crowd at the La Defense Arena.
“It didn’t feel like a swim meet, it felt like a rugby game … you can’t hear yourself think,” Stubblety-Cook said.
Marchand triumphed in the 200m butterfly before his breaststroke victory and the Parisian now has three golds medals at his home-town Games.
In Wednesday night’s women’s 100m freestyle final, Australia’s pre-race favourite Mollie O’Callaghan (fourth) and compatriot Shayna Jack (fifth) missed the medals.
“I expected a lot more,” O’Callaghan said.
“But at the end of the day you’ve got to suck it up and wait another four years.”
O’Callaghan was bidding to become just the third woman to complete a 100-200m freestyle golden double at the same Olympics.
But Swedish great Sarah Sjostrom, a 30-year-old at her fifth Olympics, trumped the field to win.
O’Callaghan, who won the 200m freestyle gold and also featured in Australia’s victorious 4x100m freestyle relay team in Paris, admitted anxiety leading into the 100m final.
“I was really nervous heading into this, didn’t have a lot of sleep over the past few days,” she said.
“I knew it was going to be at tough race … if you stuff something up, it costs you.”
Jack, also a part of Australia’s golden 4x100m freestyle relay team on Saturday night, missed the Tokyo Games after serving a two-year doping ban.
“I wanted to walk out, soak up the crowd and enjoy my family being in the stands,” Jack said.
“I tried to reflect but absorb the fact I’m here as an Olympian. A couple of years ago I never thought that would be possible.”
Australians Liz Dekkers (ranked fourth) and Abbey Lee Connor (seventh) both secured spots in the women’s 200m butterfly final.
And American Katie Ledecky added to her legend with victory in the women’s 1500m freestyle — the seventh Olympic gold medal of her glittering career.
Australian Moesha Johnson was sixth and finished 32.68 seconds behind Ledecky, who is also chasing a fourth successive 800m freestyle gold.
Dolphins Jenna Strauch and Ella Ramsey failed to progress to the women’s 200m breaststroke final.
– With AAP