Caeleb Dressel, Adrian’s teammate on the gold medal winning 4x100m freestyle relay, advanced to the final with a time of 47.97.
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“But I probably didn’t expect to get through to the final, especially in that time”.
Dressel took third in the first semifinal of the night 2012 gold medalist Nathan Adrian (47.83 seconds) and Australian Cameron McEvoy 47.93. Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, racing in the second semifinal, had the second-best time of 47.88.
The top 16 from the field advance to the semifinals.
Kyle Chalmers has just won gold in the 100m freestyle final.
World Championship silver medallist McEvoy also swam an impressive semi with a time of 47.93 seconds.
After almost missing the final, qualifying 16th in the 16-man field, Nathan Adrian battled back to win his semifinal heat of the 100m freestyle tonight with a blistering time of 47.83 seconds.
Looking at the broader picture, Chalmers could not have arrived at a better time for the Aussies.
Remarkably he blew away defending Olympic champion Nathan Adrian of the United States in his heat, despite being last at the 50m turn.
2015 World champ Ning Zetao of China also made the final, stopping the clock at 48.57.
“The heats are just for getting through”.
“He is handling (his first Games) so well… he has been so easy going”.
Britain out-qualified them, however, posting a 7:06.31 with Russia, who have been jeered and heckled at the pool this week over the doping scandal that threatened a blanket ban of Russian athletes competing in Rio, third fastest.
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McEvoy has been billed as the big star of the men’s sprint swimming line-up, but it was 18-year-old Chalmers that caught the eye with a sizzling 47.90sec. swim.
