Chalmers Eyes 100 Free WR Among Field With Kolesnikov, Popovici

2021 FINA WORLD CUP STOP #4 – KAZAN

• Thursday, October 28 – Saturday, October 30th
• Kazan Aquatics Palace, Kazan, Russia
• Prelims: 10 am local / 3 am ET
• Finals: 6 pm local / 11 am ET
• SCM (25m)
• Results

Yesterday in Kazan we saw 23-year-old Aussie Kyle Chalmers throw down the fastest 50m freestyle of his career, posting a winning effort of 20.68. That time checked in as both a new national record, as well as Oceanic Record, to top off day 1 of this final stop of the FINA World Cup Series.

After his race, Chalmers said he is eyeing the World Record in the 100m free, with the event taking place today at the Aquatics Palace. You can see his interview below.

Already this morning Chalmers surged to the top of the pack with a heats swim of 46.74. That edged out Russia’s Vladislav Grinev who touched in 46.75 to flank Chalmers for tonight’s 1free final, while teammate Kliment Kolesnikov will be on the other side after having logged an AM swim of 46.84.

However, lurking as the 7th seed is young gun David Popovici, the 17-year-old who made two Olympic finals this summer in Tokyo when he was still just 16 years of age.

Popovici of Romania hit a morning result here of 47.62 to sneak into the final and perhaps try to spoil the potentially World Record-breaking party.

Speaking of that World Record, it stands at the 44.94 Frenchman Amaury Leveaux put on the books well over a decade ago in 2008. Chalmers has been near the mark, having earned a massive new personal best and Aussie national record of 45.03 during last week’s stop in Doha.

New National Record in the 50m FREE (20.68) and ready to set a new WR in the 100m tomorrow.

🎙️🇦🇺 Kyle Chalmers pic.twitter.com/9GHqyRbAaD

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) October 28, 2021

Additional notable top seeds included Arno Kamminga following up his 100m breaststroke national record yesterday with a swift morning 50m breast time of 26.02, approaching his lifetime best of 25.84.

Expect another IM showdown among the likes of Daiya Seto of Japan and Matt Sates of South Africa, with the men ranked 1-2 in the 200m distance heading into tonight’s final. Seto logged a morning time of 1:54.03 to Sates’ 1:55.37.

There was a tie in the women’s 50m fly for the top spot, with Aussie Emma McKeon and Russia’s Arina Surkova both touching in 25.50. Fellow Aussie Holly Barratt ranks 3rd this morning after posting a mark of 25.52.

Also in the consistency column is the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint, with the two-time European Short Course champion following up her 50m back victory from night 1 with a 1back top seed of 56.44.  She leads the field by well over a second to continue her dominance in this discipline.