Kyle Chalmers has put the swimming world on notice after smashing the Australian All Comers record – the fastest time on Australian soil – in the men’s 50m butterfly on Tuesday night with a scorching 22.77 at the Australian Swimming Trials.
Australia’s 100m freestyle sprint king and 2016 Olympic gold medallist broke the previous record of 22.89, which he set at the corresponding event last year.
In doing so, the new dad put the longstanding Australian national record of 22.73, set by Matt Targett in the supersuit era in 2009, on notice.
It was Chalmers’ third sub-23-second outing of his illustrious career, and it now has him ranked No. 1 in the world for the event, surpassing two-time World Championships gold medallist Maxime Grousset of France.
To put it into perspective, his time on Tuesday night would have been enough to see him win gold at the most recent Commonwealth Games.
At that 2022 competition, Ben Proud won gold in 22.81 while Chalmers could only manage 10th place overall in 23.65.
You can watch Chalmers blow the competition away in the 50m butterfly above.
The 27-year-old also took out the 100m freestyle crown as well, stopping the clock in 48.39.
His sizzling display sent the swimming world into raptures, with many convinced the ‘new dad strength’ has been behind his latest resurgence.
Chalmers and his wife Ingeborg Chalmers welcomed their first child, Astrid Olivia, into the world last August and she is convinced the ‘dad strength’ was on full display on Tuesday night.
Chalmers’ wife commented: “Dad strength?!” responding to the Aussie swimmers’ post celebrating his new record.
Olympian Josha Salchow added, “Dad is flying fast”, to which Chalmers replied, “Dad strength unlocked”.
Others commented“dad bod” and “father kyle to the moon”.
After doing the double at the Australian Trials, Chalmers said he is eyeing up gold at the LA Games in the 50m fly.
“I want to get faster every time I stand behind the blocks and get the chance to race,” Chalmers said on Channel 9.
“It’s something I have been putting an emphasis on in training is my butterfly so good to see it’s working and I am swimming PBs. There is nothing better in swimming than swimming a PB.
“Being able to go back to swimming the event I am probably best at (the 50m butterfly) is something I am really excited about.”
Meanwhile, Molly O’Callaghan won the women’s 100m freestyle in a solid time of 52.66 seconds on Monday night.
In promising signs ahead of major meets later in the year, the two-time world champion comfortably beat Meg Harris (53.36), with Olivia Wunsch (53.58) coming third and Shayna Jack (53.92) fourth.
In the women’s 200m backstroke, Kaylee McKeown blew the opposition away in a sizzling 2:05.66, with Hannah Fredericks (2:08.80) second and Jenna Forrester (2:10.74) third.
Lani Pallister also continued her dominance in the pool, cruising to an easy victory in the 800m freestyle final in 8:11.28 – the third-fastest women’s 800m swim of all time.
