'If I make it through to LA — that's the dream': Kyle Chalmers backflips on Olympic retirement after medal-winning Paris swim

PARIS: Australian sprint king Kyle Chalmers charged home to win Olympic silver in the men's 100m freestyle on Thursday morning (AEST), then revealed his intention to still be competing when the Los Angeles 2028 Games arrive.

Chalmers said on SEN radio in August last year that Paris 2024 would be his final Olympic campaign, and commentators have repeatedly said the Paris 100m freestyle final would be his last individual swim at an Olympic Games.

But the 26-year-old from Adelaide made it clear after claiming back-to-back Olympic silver medals in the 100m freestyle that retirement remained a long way away.

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Chinese 19-year-old Pan Zhanle obliterated his own 100m freestyle world record and delivered the first world record-breaking swim of the Paris Games, scorching through the two-lap sprint in 46.40 seconds to chop a whopping 0.40 of a second off his previous mark.

Chalmers clinched silver with a 47.48 and Romanian David Popovici finished just 0.01 of a second behind the Australian, taking bronze.

Chalmers revealed in an interview with Nine's Ellie Cole immediately after his race that he would not be retiring in the foreseeable future.

"This is not my last individual [race]. I'm not retiring any time soon. I love it. I think I'll continue on as long as I possibly can," Chalmers said, surprising Nine commentators Cole, Giaan Rooney and Ian Thorpe.

The speedster reiterated his altered plans in the media mixed zone.

"I'm 26; there's guys that are a lot older than me that are continuing to do it," he said.

"I love being an Olympian.

"I think Cameron [McEvoy] is the first [Australian] person to go to four Olympics as a male swimmer, so to be able to join an exclusive club like that would be really cool, and I love being a part of the Australian swimming team and I'm so excited by the young guys we have coming through in that relay. That keeps me motivated. I want to be a part of those relays continuing on, and if I make it through to LA — that's the dream.

"But also, I'm a realist; I'm not going to be the fastest person in Australia forever, those guys are going to beat me at some point, but I'm going to do my very best to stay on the team for as long as I can.

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"Who knows? Maybe I'll make it through to Brisbane 2032," Chalmers added with a laugh.

True to how he's raced traditionally, he was comparatively slow over the first lap — he was eighth off the blocks and eighth at the turn — but he rocketed home in 24.45 seconds, blasting out a finishing lap only topped by the gold medallist.

The impressive swim at the Paris La Defense Arena took his individual Olympic medal tally to three, following his 100m freestyle triumph at the Rio 2016 Games as an 18-year-old and his silver-winning swim in the same event in Tokyo.

He's won two silver medals in Paris, in the 4x100m freestyle relay and 100m freestyle, to take his haul of Olympic medals to seven.

"I'm so proud of myself," Chalmers said with a beaming smile.

"It's been a rollercoaster eight years. [I've had] so many challenges that I guess every athlete has to go through: injuries, mental health, sicknesses, family stuff.

"This year's been very challenging not having Bish [former coach Peter Bishop] along my side, and having to move to the Sunshine Coast which is something I never thought I would have to do, relocate out of South Australia.

"I look at Rio [the 2016 Olympics]; I think I was so young, so naive, and didn't know what it meant to be an Olympian or to be an Olympic champion, and to do it eight years later it means so much more to me to be able to stand on the podium and receive a silver medal."