A huge obstacle may still stand in his way, but Australian Kyle Chalmers' Olympic 100m freestyle title defence appears on track after snatching the world No.1 ranking at the South Australian state swimming titles.
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Chalmers fired a warning shot to great American rival Caeleb Dressel ahead of this year's Tokyo Olympics with a scorching 47.99 second effort to claim the 100m final in Adelaide.
The proud South Australian is the first to crack the 48 second barrier this year and his stunning effort in full training ties Russia's Vlad Morozov as the third fastest 100m time since September 2019.
To put his effort in perspective, Chalmers clocked a morning heats swim of 49.41 at the same meet last year before producing the second fastest time by an Australian in a textile suit with a remarkable 47.08 to claim 2019 world titles 100m silver behind Dressel in South Korea.
However, it seems Chalmers may have to find another gear before Tokyo after Dressel hinted that his stint at the inaugural International Swimming League would only make him faster.
Dressel earned MVP honours at the season ending ISL team meet in Las Vegas barely a month ago after destroying the 50m freestyle short course world record.
He reckoned contesting three ISL legs in 2019 was just what he needed as he prepared to renew his rivalry with Chalmers after they staged one of the great 100m battles at the 2019 world titles at Gwangju.
"I was more than happy to do the three meets that I did with the ISL because we saw it as a benefit to my training, we didn't see it as a bump in the road at all," Dressel told the swimswam website.
Dressel had to produce a time just 0.05 shy of the world record to hold out Chalmers and claim 100m gold in South Korea.
Still, Dressel reckoned the sky was the limit for personal best times after his ISL success.
"Sometimes you get so caught up with a time but it's not about doing someone else's time, it's doing what I am capable of doing," he said.
"I don't want to lose the mindset of coming into practice every day to make the people around me better, to make them make me better and when it comes to a meet just do your best times."
Chalmers has still been impressive at the SA titles which also includes 50m butterfly, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle gold with the 50m freestyle still to come in Adelaide.
Australian Associated Press
