Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers won gold in the men’s 100-meter freestyle final with a time of 47.58 seconds Wednesday night in Rio. The 18-year-old is a first-time Olympian and rallied from a major deficit in the final 50 meters to get the gold.
Olympic swimming results 2016: Australia’s Kyle Chalmers wins gold in men’s 100m freestyle
Nathan Adrian failed to defend his Olympic gold in the men’s 100m freestyle, but he did earn bronze in Rio.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Belgium’s Pieter Timmers won the silver at 47.80 seconds and the United States’ Nathan Adrian won the bronze with a time of 47.85 seconds. Adrian overcame a poor performance in the heats to recover and earn a medal.
Adrian had a borderline disastrous showing in the heats, earning the last spot in the semifinals with a 16th-place overall finish. His time of 48.58 seconds was well behind his usual pace and nearly cost him the chance at defending his gold medal.
Things quickly bounced back for Adrian from there, however. Proving that his poor performance in the heat was a fluke, Adrian won the semifinals with a time of 47.83 seconds. He shaved an astonishing 0.75 seconds off his time between the heats and semis, re-establishing himself as one of the favorites entering Wednesday night. He performed even better in the final to get bronze.
Caeleb Dressel, Adrian’s teammate on the gold medal-winning 4x100m relay team, performed well leading up to the final. He had the second-best time in the heats behind Chalmers (47.91), then delivered another solid effort in the semifinals (47.97) to finish fifth. He didn’t trend upward like Adrian, however, and finished sixth in the finals with a time of 48.02 seconds.
Adrian now has six Olympic medals. His first came in 2008 when he swam in the heats for the 4x100m relay before the U.S. won gold in the final. He also won three medals at the 2012 Olympics -- gold in the 100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay, and silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay -- before adding two more this year. Dressel won his first medal as part of the 4x100m relay team.
Chalmers looks like a rising star in swimming after this performance. He flew in those final 50 meters to get the win and should have a bright future.
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