Kyle Chalmers smashes rival Cody Simpson at swimming national championships ahead of Paris Olympics

A love triangle has turned into a vicious circle at the Australian Swimming Championships with Kyle Chalmers winning the 100m freestyle while love rival Cody Simpson failed to even qualify for the final.

Chalmers had been embroiled in a series of dramas at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games following his break-up with Australia’s Olympic golden girl Emma McKeon who is now dating Simpson.

This week he did his talking in the pool, dominating his younger rivals in the final at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre with a time of 48.00 seconds, defeating his younger rivals Kai Taylor (48.41) and Flynn Southam (48.53).

Simpson failed to qualify for the final of the men’s 100m freestyle, and his results in the B-Final saw him finish the event as the 17th overall fastest swimmer.

While Chalmers’ dominance is a sign that he is ready to lead the younger generation of swimmers to the Paris Games next year, alarm bells are ringing loudly for Simpson.

After admitting to being mentally impacted by the love triangle headlines last year, Chalmers has rebounded in emphatic fashion and has the smile on his face to show it 

Chalmers was quick to congratulate his younger rivals after the final and wants to be a leader for them in Paris

His failure to qualify for the final means his dream of competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics is at risk of being dashed. 

It comes after he also finished eighth in the 100m butterfly on Wednesday night. 

Simpson last year finished eighth overall at the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games. 

He came away from Birmingham with a gold and a silver medal for swimming in the heats of the 4x100m men’s freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay. 

The former pop star now seems a mile off the pace and has plenty of work ahead of him to jag a coveted ticket on the plane to the Games.

However, it caps off a dramatic turnaround for Chalmers, who seems to have shrugged off the mental demons the love triangle headlines heaped on him last year. 

‘The made-up story lines surrounding my personal life have been more than I can handle,’ Chalmers posted at the time on Instagram. 

What next for Simpson? A series of poor results have his Olympics hopes on life support and he doesn’t have long to turn it around

Simpson and McKeon are Australian swimming’s power couple but his results in the pool have dipped sharply in 2023

Following the championships, he was all smiles and had a not-so-subtle dig at Simpson and the headlines that followed him through 2022.

‘The body’s the best it’s been since probably 2020,’ he said.

‘[That] was when I had shoulder problems, in March 2020, so I’ve had two shoulder surgeries since then.

‘I had a few cortisone [injections] straight after NSW states because my shoulders were a bit tender – I’m always going to be in a little bit of pain but they’re feeling the best they have in a really long time and I think my mind is probably the best it’s felt since 2016.

‘I feel the happiest I have in and out of the pool, I’m loving training, loving life and having a lot of fun with it, so I’m very grateful for that.’

World champion Mollie O’Callaghan  continued her rich vein of form at the championships on the Gold Coast

Olympic bronze medallist Brendon Smith was all smiles after taking out the final of the 400m individual medley

The women’s 200m freestyle crown was won by world champion Mollie O’Callaghan, who finished in a time of 1:55.15, ahead of Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus (1:55.28) and Shayna Jack (1:55.37). 

O’Callaghan added to her last gasp win over Jack in the 100m and her personal best times in the 50 and 100m backstroke to have a successful meet. 

The women’s 200m backstroke was won by 16-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl Jaclyn Barclay [2:11.50], who took her maiden open title from Hannah Fredericks [2:11.72] and Jenna Forrester (2:11.95]. 

Dual Olympian Brianna Throssell won the 100m butterfly, touching in 57.57 to beat Alexandria Perkins (57.64) and Kayla Costa (59.37). 

Matt Temple won the 200m butterfly in 1:56.96, while Olympic bronze medallist Brendon Smith won the 400IM title from Tokyo teammate Se-Bom Lee. 

Madeleine Gough, who was a finalist in the 1500m freestyle in Tokyo, won the 1500m freestyle event, finishing in 16:08.76.