Olympic Swimming 2016: Men's 100M Freestyle Medal Winners, Times and Results

Nathan Adrian's bid for a second straight gold medal ended in disappointment on Wednesday night. The 27-year-old captured bronze in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the 2016 Summer Olympics, with Kyle Chalmers bringing a gold to Australia.

Chalmers finished in 47.58 seconds, 0.22 seconds ahead of Pieter Timmers:

Pos.	Swimmer	Country	Time
1	Kyle Chalmers	Australia	47.58
2	Pieter Timmers	Belgium	47.80
3	Nathan Adrian	United States	47.85
4	Santo Condorelli	Canada	47.88
5	Duncan Scott	Great Britain	48.01
6	Caeleb Dressel	United States	48.02
7	Cameron McEvoy	Australia	48.12
8	Marcelo Chierighini	Brazil	48.41

Adrian was running second behind Santo Condorelli after the first 50 meters. Chalmers, meanwhile, was sitting in seventh.

Condorelli got a great push off the wall and briefly surged ahead of the pack. He began wearing down, though, the longer the race went on. Adrian continued hanging near the top spot, but Chalmers demonstrated his excellent closing speed to beat Adrian and Timmers.

The Age's Sam McClure was astounded by the 18-year-old's speed in the final 50 meters:

Fellow gold medalist Mack Horton was in disbelief:

Chalmers would've been an outside favorite before the race. He hadn't tasted individual success at the senior level, but he had earned gold in the 100 at the 2015 FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Junior Swimming Championships.

Despite his already impressive reputation at such a young age, few expected Chalmers to deliver a performance like this.

According to ESPN Stats & Info's Paul Carr, Chalmers is the first Australian male swimmer to win the 100-meter freestyle since 1968. He's also the youngest Australian man to win gold since the legendary Ian Thorpe, per Ten News' Candice Wyatt. Thorpe was 17 when he won gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Australian swimming had been plagued by myriad issues leading to a disappointing showing at the 2012 Olympics. The country is having a resurgence in Rio de Janeiro.

After Chalmers' win, Australia's three gold medals in swimming are tied for second, and its seven overall medals are second behind the United States.

Post-Race Reaction

"It's unbelievable, I mean, I'm only 18," Chalmers said, per the Guardian. "Nathan is 10 years older than me and he’s the reigning Olympic champion so being next to him was pretty daunting for me but I knew I had to stick to my guns."

Chalmers was disappointed, though, that fellow Australian Cameron McEvoy couldn't share in the spoils, per the Daily Mail's Emily Crane and John Carney: "It's awesome. I didn't have any more to give. But there's mixed emotions. It's hard winning and [McEvoy] not swimming his best."