Sydney, March 1, 2018 - Australia's Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers beat a crack field in an outside lane to win the 100-metres freestyle and qualify for next month's Commonwealth Games (CG) on Thursday. Chalmers, who scraped into the final in lane one, completed the 100-200m sprint double winning in 48.16 seconds and will spearhead a strong Australia swim team for the home Games from April 4-15. "It means the world to me," Chalmers said. "It was a tough morning swim, backing up after last night's 200m freestyle and I hadn't had a lot of experience doing that. "To get through the final, just, and then to swim my first national title in my main event means a lot to me." Chalmers edged out Jack Cartwright (48.60 from lane eight), Cameron McEvoy (48.62) and James Magnussen (48.79). Chalmers, who won the 100m gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics as an 18-year-old, was forced to withdraw from last year's world championships to have surgery to correct a heart problem. "It's been a rollercoaster 12 months and last night's result really boosted my confidence to do a personal best in the 200m. "And tonight I guess it again proves to me that I am again able to do it after the couple of years since the Rio Olympics and I look forward to competing at the Commonwealth Games." Former world record holder Cate Campbell beat her sister Bronte to win the women's 100m freestyle final in 52.37secs with Emma McKeon third. It continues her strong form since returning to the pool to recover from a disappointing Rio Olympics where she was the 100m gold medal favourite Rio but faded to sixth in the final. "My time away from the pool has given me perspective," Campbell said. "I am probably a bit more relaxed when it comes to racing now." Younger sister Bronte Campbell finished second in 52.96sec and under Commonwealth Games qualifying time. Olympic champion Mack Horton defended his national 400m freestyle crown in 3:45.41 to claim gold, reeling in 1500m specialist Jack McLoughlin over the last 50m. Looking ahead to Saturday's 1500m event the 21-year-old warned he had plenty left in the tank. "I want to go hard," he said. "Tonight, I think I was feeling the 200m from last night -- it took away my easy speed. "But I will just fine tune that and work on easier speed which should come in the next five weeks (at the Games)." Rising star Ariarne Titmus lowered her own Australian record in the 400m freestyle final and completed the 200m-400m double at the trials. The 17-year-old won the final in 4:02.36, under the Commonwealth Games qualifying time. "My training times, I know what I'm going to race based off them," she said. "I don't really do any surprise swims but I'm pretty happy with how I've gone so far."
