Ian Thorpe's revealing Kyle Chalmers comment after Comm Games upset

Ian Thorpe has highlighted a quirk in Kyle Chalmers' technique that allowed England to grab gold in the men's 100m medley relay final at the Commonwealth Games.

The Aussie team were pipped at the wall by the Poms on Wednesday night, propelled by a raucous parochial crowd in Birmingham.

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England won by just 0.08 seconds as Tom Dean touched out Chalmers at the death.

"I gave it everything I possibly could," said Chalmers, who ends his turbulent week with three gold medals and a silver.

"It would have been nice standing on top of the podium but it's a good way to finish the week."

Chalmers was trailing Dean in the first 50m of his swim but moved ahead of the Englishman in the final stages.

However Chalmers couldn't see Dean make one final push and touch out the Aussie star at the wall.

Analysing the race in commentary for Channel 7, Aussie legend Thorpe pointed out that Chalmers was breathing on his right-hand side and looking away from his rival.

“If we were in a different lane and he could see what was going on it may have been a different result,” Thorpe said.

“Very, very similar to what happened in the 100m freestyle at the Olympic Games.”

Chalmers lost by just 0.06 seconds in the 100m final the Tokyo Olympics last year after being caught at the wall.

At the time, Thorpe said Chalmers might have been burned by the fact he was breathing on the side looking away from gold medallist Caeleb Dressel.

“Nothing he could have done, in the lane that he was in, could have been better,” Thorpe said.

“Had he been in a different lane, the outcome may have changed. That’s all that can be said. You can’t change that.”

Speaking before Wednesday's race, Thorpe predicted that Chalmers might struggle due to the fact he breathes on his right.

“The concern that I have for Kyle Chalmers is traditionally, he breathes on his right-hand side, which means on the way down, he will be able to see the rest of the field into Caeleb Dressel,which will help get him out in a faster split in the first 50,” Thorpe said.

“He needs to be out faster than he was in the semi-final. If he continues to breathe on his right he won’t be able to hunt them down in the same way as he would normally, because he will be looking at Maxime Grousset in lane eight.”

Chalmers admitted as much after the race, saying: “It’s a bit more challenging being on the outside. I have to swim my own race from start to finish and be breathing the other way on the way home."

Emma McKeon and Ariarne Titmus win more gold

Australia wound up with 25 swimming gold medals in Birmingham - three shy of the team's best-ever Games haul four years ago.

The Dolphins also collected 20 silver and 20 bronze as the swimming events finished on Wednesday.

McKeon won her sixth gold medal on the last night of competition - equalling the record for most golds at a single Games shared by fellow greats Thorpe and Susie O'Neill.

Her eight overall medals in Birmingham also equals O'Neill's record for the most at a single Games.

McKeon, who had earlier broken the record for career gold medals (14) and most career medals (20) at the Commonwealth Games, helped Australia win the women's 4x100m mixed medley.

Ariarne Titmus won the women's 400m freestyle to complete a rare triple treat - freestyle gold over 200m, 400m and 800m - and all in Commonwealth Games record times.

And Australia's Sam Short also took gold in the men's 1500m freestyle, joining an illustrious list of Australians - including his hero Kieren Perkins and Grant Hackett - to be Commonwealth champion the event.

with AAP

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