Kyle Chalmers delivered a superhuman effort to lead the Australian men’s 4x100m medley relay team to a remarkable comeback and finish tied for first in a world record time at the world shortcourse swimming championships.
Chalmers entered the water in third position but put on a masterclass to touch the wall at the identical time as the American team. Both foursomes shared the gold medal in a new record time 3:18.98.
It was Australia’s 13th gold medal of the championships, a new record.
It was Chalmers’ third gold of this week’s competition and took his tally to seven medals in all – a new record for an Australian at the shortcourse championships. Emma McKeon hit the magical seventh medal mark earlier on Sunday night when she notched a silver with the women’s 4x100m medley relay squad.
It followed a stunning performance from Kaylee McKeown in the women’s 200m backstroke, with the 21-year-old making history as the first Australian woman to hold the Olympic, Commonwealth Games, shortcourse and longcourse titles for the same event at the same time.
Her magnificent effort in Melbourne followed victory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and the 2022 Budapest longcourse world championships.
Only Grant Hackett (1998-2002) managed the same feat by an Australian, with his dominance of the 1500m freestyle event.
McKeown was, however, disappointed to finish just 0.36s behind her own world record from 2020.
She would back up less than an hour later in the relay as the women’s 4x100m medley team sealed silver – adding to McKeown’s already incredible haul from the tournament.
She had already claimed three gold medals (women’s 100m, 200m backstroke and women’s 4x50m medley relay) and one bronze (women’s 200m medley) in a wonderful week in Melbourne.
