Trio of gold chances in 100m freestyle finals for Australia as Chalmers, O'Callaghan win semis

Australia will have three genuine gold chances across the men's and women's 100m freestyle finals after Kyle Chalmers, Mollie O'Callaghan and Shayna Jack all qualified for the medal races in fine fashion.

Chalmers won his semi-final in the first race of the evening session on day four of Paris 2024, and O'Callaghan followed suit about an hour later – shortly after Jack had been touched out to finish second in the first women's semi-final.

Chalmers and O'Callaghan won their races in eerily similar ways, with relatively moderate starts that saw them both turn outside the top three, before storming home over the last 25 metres to touch out their rivals.

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Only China's Pan Zhanle, the men's world record holder, posted a faster time in qualifying than Chalmers as he stormed home from lane eight to win his semi, but the Australian was playing down his medal chances ahead of Thursday morning's finals (AEST).

"It's going to be a big challenge," he said.

"Obviously there's three guys that now have a faster PB than I do, so it's going to take a lot to be there tomorrow night.

"But I'm going to do everything I possibly can to be there, but just to be in the Olympic final again is very, very special...

"I'm really proud and I gave my absolute everything tonight and I'll give my everything tomorrow night for my country and try to make everyone proud."

There was a similar message from Jack, who admitted she was "really nervous" ahead of her first-ever individual Olympic semi-final.

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"This is my first individual Olympic event, and I have actually got quite emotional thinking about how far I've come to this point," she said.

"I'm just proud of myself to be here representing my country and doing my family and friends and fans proud back home."

Faced with tough competition in O'Callaghan and Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey in the final, Jack was tight-lipped on whether she'd change her approach when the medals are on the line.

"That's hush-hush. It's secrets," she said.

"I can't give all my secrets away."

Australia's other semi-finalist in the men's semi-finals, William Yang – who had only been given a start after another swimmer withdrew – was unable to make the final, having finished 0.39 seconds outside the last qualifier.