Kyle Chalmers, (born 25 June 1998) is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian and Australian record holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle.
At the 2014 Oceania Swimming Championships, Chalmers won the Oceania title in the 50 metre butterfly and 100 metre freestyle. He was the 2016 Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro in the 100 metre freestyle, winning the gold medal in world junior record time. In 2018, he was Commonwealth Games champion in the 200 metre freestyle. He also won a gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and a silver medal at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju in the 100 metre freestyle. He won his second Olympic medal in the 100 metre freestyle Olympic Games event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning the silver medal with a time of 47.08 in the final. In 2022, he won the gold medal in the 100 metre freestyle at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 World Short Course Championships. He is most well known for his clutch performing back-end splits.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chalmers won the silver medal in the 100m freestyle with a time of 47.48 seconds. In the Men's 4x100m freestyle relay final, he delivered an anchor leg split of 46.59 seconds, the fastest of any swimmer in the race, helping his team secure the silver medal.
Chalmers was born in Port Lincoln, South Australia and is the son of former Australian rules football player Brett Chalmers. He attended Saint Josephs School Port Lincoln as a young child, on the "Tenison" team. Having moved to Adelaide to pursue better schooling and sporting opportunities, he attended Immanuel College in South Australia. Chalmers has Supraventricular tachycardia.
In May 2014, Chalmers competed at the Oceania Championships in Auckland. He won the gold medal in the 50 m butterfly with a time of 24.35. He also won the gold medal in the 100 m freestyle, swimming a time of 50.71. In his other individual events, he placed fourth in the 50 m freestyle final, with a time of 23.48 seconds, and eighth in the preliminary heats of the 100 m butterfly with a time of 56.96 before withdrawing from the final. For his relay events, he won a gold medal as part of the mixed 4 × 50 m freestyle relay, splitting 23.26 for the second leg of the relay in the final; a silver medal leading-off the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay in 51.65 seconds in the final; and a gold medal in the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, splitting 50.84 on the third leg.
In August 2014, Chalmers competed at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing. He won three bronze medals, one in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, one in the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, and one in the mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay, as well as placing fifth in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, ninth in the 50 m butterfly, eleventh in the 50 m freestyle, fifteenth in the 100 m freestyle, and not starting the 200 m freestyle.
In August 2015, Chalmers made his Australian team debut at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. Swimming the heats of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, he split 47.92 on the second leg. Australia finished thirteenth in a time of 3:16.34. Chalmers' split was the fastest amongst the team, which led to his selection for the 4 × 100 m medley relay. He split 47.86 in the heats and was replaced by Cameron McEvoy in the final. Australia eventually won the silver medal.
Later in the month, Chalmers competed at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Singapore. His first event was the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, where he split 48.41 on the second leg and won the gold medal in a time of 3:17.39. He then competed in the mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay, splitting 47.68 on the freestyle leg; Australia won the silver medal with a final time of 3:48.27. Swimming the second leg of the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, he split 48.89 and won the silver medal in an overall time of 3:28.59. Chalmers then recorded 22.19 to win the gold medal in the 50 m freestyle. Later in the session, he won a silver medal in 4 × 200 m freestyle relay in 7:17.76; he split 1:50.13 on the third leg. On the final day of competition, Chalmers competed in two events. First was the 100 m freestyle, where he won the gold medal in a time of 48.47, breaking the championship record of 48.87 seconds set by Brazil's Pedro Spajari in the semifinals. Chalmers' final event was the 4 × 100 m medley relay, where he split 48.38 on the freestyle leg. Australia won the bronze medal in 3:40.21.
At the 2016 Australian Championships in Adelaide, Chalmers qualified for the Olympics by finishing second in the 100 m freestyle. He broke the world junior record with a time of 48.03.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Chalmers' first event was the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. He split 47.37 on the second leg, and Australia won the bronze medal. Chalmers then competed in the 100 m freestyle. He broke the world junior record in the heats and semifinals, recording times of 47.90 and 47.88, respectively. In the final, Chalmers was in seventh place at the 50 m mark, but managed to win the gold medal in a time of 47.58. This broke the world junior record again, and made him the first Australian to win the event since Michael Wenden in 1968. Chalmers then competed in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. Splitting 46.72 on the anchor leg, he secured another bronze medal, in a final time of 3:29.93.
Chalmers then competed in the 2016 World Cup, which was held in short course. At the Singapore stop, he recorded 46.61 in the 100 m freestyle to break the world junior record. Four days later, at the Tokyo stop, he lowered the mark to 46.12.
In April 2017, Chalmers qualified for the World Championships in Budapest. However, in May, he withdrew from the team to undergo heart surgery. He returned to competition in October 2017.
In April 2018, Chalmers' competed at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, which was his first international competition post-operation. On the second day of competition, he competed in two events. The first of which was the 200 m freestyle, where he recorded a time of 1:45.56 to win the gold medal. He then anchored the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, splitting 48.25; Australia won the gold medal in a time of 3:12.96. On day four, he again swam in two events. In the 100 m freestyle, he tied with South Africa's Chad le Clos to win the silver medal in a time of 48.15. He then split 1:46.47 on the second leg of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, winning the gold medal in a games record time of 7:05.97. On the final day of competition, Chalmers anchored the 4 × 100 m medley relay in 47.25, securing the gold medal in a games record time of 3:31.04.
In August 2018, Chalmers competed at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo. On day one, he placed ninth in the 200 m freestyle heats, before withdrawing from the B-final. On day two, he won the gold medal in the 100 m freestyle with a time of 48.00 seconds. He then competed in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, splitting 1:46.73 on the second leg; Australia won the silver medal in a time of 7:04.70. The following day, he competed in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, splitting 47.50. Australia recorded an overall time of 3:12.53 to initially finished third, but were promoted to the silver medal position after the US were disqualified for failing to swim in their nominated order. Chalmers concluded the competition with the 4 × 100 m medley relay, splitting 46.91 on the freestyle leg. Australia won the bronze medal in a time of 3:30.52.
In July 2019, Chalmers competed at the World Championships in Gwangju, Chalmers won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, splitting 47.06 on the anchor leg to record a final time of 3:11.22. The following day, he placed thirteenth in the semifinals of the 200 m freestyle with a time of 1:46.21. In the 100 m freestyle, he swam a personal best time of 47.08 seconds and won the silver medal. He later competed in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, splitting 1:45.37 on the second leg and winning the gold medal. Australia's time of 7:00.85 broke the national record of 7:01.65 from 2009. Chalmers swam the first leg of the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, splitting 47.37. Australia won the silver medal with a national record time of 3:19.97. On the final day of competition, Chalmers split 46.60 on the freestyle leg of the 4 × 100 m medley relay to place fifth in 3:30.42.