Men’s 50 Fly Was a Rare Australian-less Final at the Commonwealth Games

By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam

2022 COMMONWEALTH GAMES

• Friday, July 29 – Wednesday, August 3, 2022
• Birmingham, England
• Sandwell Aquatic Center
• Start Times
  • Prelims: 10:30 am local / 5:30 am ET
  • Finals: 7:00 pm local / 2:00 pm ET
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Event Schedule
• Entry List (PDF)
• Live Results

Men’s 50 Fly Finals Qualifiers

1. Ben Proud (ENG), 23.06
2. Tzen Wei Teong (SGP), 23.24
3. Dylan Carter (TTO), 23.41
4. Jacob Peters (ENG) / Josh Liendo (CAN), 23.51
5. –
6. Lewis Fraser (WAL), 23.56
7. Cameron Gray (NZL), 23.58
8. Adam Barrett (ENG), 23.59

It was an unfamiliar sight during the men’s 50 fly–for the first time in 8 years, Australia will not have a finalist in a Commonwealth Games event.

Australia had Matt Temple, Kyle Chalmers, and Cody Simpson swim the event. All three made it to the semifinals, but failed to make it any further. Temple was the closest to the final, finishing ninth in 23.63. Chalmers finished just behind in 10th, with Simpson taking 14th in 23.87.

In the last 24 years–which is as far back as full Commonwealth Games results are readily available–we could only identify two occasions where this happened to Australia. The most recent occasion was in 2014, when they only had Christian Sprenger in the 100 breast. Sprenger, the 2010 silver medalist, finished 10th.

The prior time it happened was in the women’s 50 free in 1998. Australia had two entrants, but neither one made the final. This is a far cry from the women’s 50 free in 2022, where Australia has controlled the top three spots all the way through the rounds.

The occasion is so unexpected because Australia is by far the dominant swimming entity at the Commonwealth Games. Through the 2018 Games, Australia had won 733 total medals, which is almost double the count of the next-best country England (376). Australia’s 305 gold medals is even more dominant, ahead of 105 for England and 101 for Canada.

That dominance has grown even bigger in recent years. In 2018, Australia had 28 gold medals and 73 total medals. England was 2nd in both categories with 9 and 24, respectively.

Though they missed out on this final, internally the race for spots in butterfly events is heating up in Australia. With Temple, Simpson, Chalmers, and Shuan Champion, the 100 fly at 2024 Australian Olympic Trials already projects to be brutal.

Through only a day and a half of competition, we’ve gotten used to seeing Australia dominate the podium, headlined by sweeps in the men’s 400 free and women’s 200 free. In the 50 fly, it will instead by England who got all three of their entrants into the big heat. Ben Proud was the top seed, with Jacob Peters tying for fourth and Adam Barrett sneaking in eighth. It was Proud who won the event, grabbing his fourth individual Commonwealth gold in a Games record.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Men’s 50 Fly Was a Rare Australian-less Final at the Commonwealth Games