Inside With Brett Hawke: Kyle Chalmers On What It Might Take to Beat Caeleb Dressel

Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

Reigning 100 freestyle Olympic gold medalist Kyle Chalmers hopped on the Inside With Brett Hawke podcast to talk about his Olympic gold medal at age 18 in the 100 free in Rio as he became the first Australian to win the event since Michael Wenden in 1968. He talked about meeting his sporting hero Kevin Durant during the Games and how the highlight of Rio was getting to meet the American superstar.

Chalmers went over the media pressures after the Games as he went into Rio with all the pressure on Cameron McEvoy and ended up winning the gold medal in the blue-ribbon event (8:30) and how his life completely changed afterward. He talked about the progression of the 100 freestyle in Rio and how he had the confidence to win gold after the heats (14:00). Chalmers discussed walking into the ready room at an Olympic Games (21:00) and the differences between the heats, semifinals and the final, as well as the respect he has gained for Nathan Adrian, Caeleb Dressel and McEvoy.

Kyle Chalmers has a lot of hype around the impending showdown between him and the American Dressel, who has won the last two world titles in the 100 freestyle. He talked about the differences between the Tokyo 100 freestyle versus the race at the World Championships in 2019 (25:00), and how he watched Dressel do what he did at the 2017 Worlds (26:30).

Hawke and Chalmers predicted how the race would go and what the Aussie would need to do to beat him (27:30). In the early days of 2020, Chalmers was a 47.9 in the 100 freestyle and had the fastest time in the world, as he said he was in the best shape of his life to chase a repeat gold in Tokyo (29:00).

Kyle Chalmers won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships and explained why he wasn’t happy with that race, not because of the silver but because he didn’t feel he executed the race the way he needed to (34:30). He swam a 47.08 in the final and got within two tenths of breaking the 11-year-old world record set by Cesar Cielo in 2009, who Hawke coached. Chalmers hypothesized why the record has stood the test of time and what it would take to beat it (37:00).

Chalmers explained his 200 training regime and why he trains primarily for that distance to peak at the 100 (40:00), and what his prospects in the 200 freestyle next year might look like. He closed out the interview by giving his prediction for the NBA Finals (44:50) and why the championship could be headed out to Los Angeles.

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