Rio de Janeiro: It may be a case of forgetting what you thought you knew about the men's 100m freestyle after a dramatic round of heats at the Estadio Aquatico Olimpico on Tuesday morning in Brazil.
The good news first... gold medal favourite Cameron McEvoy was fourth-fastest into tonight's semi-finals, taking out the final heat with a controlled swim of 48.12s. He was out slowly but edged away late and did more than enough to secure his spot.
The fastest from the morning? McEvoy's Australian team-mate Kyle Chalmers, the Adelaide sporting prodigy who could easily have chosen a path to AFL football instead of the Olympic Games.
A monster of a kid at just 18, Chalmers hauled in American relay gun Caleb Dressel after the turn to go sub-48s for the first time in his career, locking down a 47.91s to mark himself as a genuine medal chance in the blue-ribbon sprint.
"I knew what I had to do at each part of the race, I think I did that. It's exciting to see the depth in the 100m freestyle. It was pretty cut throat at the end there. Tonight will be amazing," McEvoy said, before expanding on the rise of rookie Dolphin Chalmers.
"He's ranked first. He snuck under 48 for the first time, which is amazing. He's handled it so well mentally as well. I've been in the same apartment with him. He's so easy going. I definitely think he's got a bit more in the tank."
Chalmers has flown under the radar big-time in the lead-up with all of the focus on McEvoy and America's defending Olympic gold medallist Nathan Adrian. But he could well find himself with some Rio bling if he drops time on that through the next rounds.
"My back end is my strength so I had a good turn and worked that last 15m into the wall....I'm very happy with the swim. Looking forward to tonight's semi I'm really happy that I've made it through and hopefully I can progress onto the final," Chalmers said.
Adrian, meanwhile, was on the brink of disaster after his slow heat time saw him as the last man into the semis with a swim of 48.48s. Defending world champion, China's Zing Netao, was through in 14th and both must shake those cobwebs out in a hurry.
"It was alright, feeling a little rusty this morning, trying to get back into the meet after a pretty late night the other night," Adrian said, referring to his starring role in anchoring the American relay that took gold.
"It doesn't affect anything really, you're swimming for a lane, and tonight is going to be the same thing, we're swimming for a lane. Actually, I'm pretty happy to get an outside lane, it's always nice to get a little clean water, so looking forward to it tonight."
McEvoy was also happy to stay well clear of the doping saga that has become the story of not only the pool but the entire Games, started by team-mate Mack Horton's campaign against Chinese rival Sun Yang.
"I came here to swim and I'll stick to swimming. I'm not very educated on this type of stuff in terms of the facts and political stances... everyone has their opinion but I'll choose to keep that to myself," McEvoy said.
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