Kyle Chalmers opens up on fallout of ‘snub’ controversy revealing he has spoken to Chinese champ Pan Zhanle

Kyle Chalmers has revealed that he’s talked to his Chinese rival Pan Zhanle to smooth things over after he was accused of snubbing the gold medalist at the Paris Olympics.

Pan claimed China’s first gold medal in the pool in Paris on Thursday morning (AEST), setting a new world record in the process and leaving the Aussie champion in his wake.

Talking with a Chinese news network after the race, Pan took aim at Chalmers and accused him of snubbing him after claiming silver in the one-sided final.

That led to a firestorm on Chinese social media platform Weibo, which Statista reports has over 605 million users.

Chalmers admitted that he’s felt the backlash – but said he has cleared the air with Pan.

‘A huge amount of grief, which is obviously very challenging to deal with mentally,’ Chalmers told News Corp.

‘But I know that I’ve done everything I possibly can to be respectful, like I am to every one of my competitors.

‘Over the years I’ve had some amazing relationships with guys that I’ve raced against and race with and I think this will be no different.

Chalmers says that he has spoken to Chinese rival Pan Zhanle to clear the air

‘I really look forward to progressing our relationship and challenging each other and having some amazing battles in the pool over the years.

‘It’s one-all now. Last year, we raced at the world championships and I got the better of him but this year he got the better of me so I’m looking forward to taking it to round three next year.’

The Aussie said he asked Pan about his interview with Chinese TV, insisting he had no issue with him. 

‘To be honest, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last three or four days,’ Chalmers said.

‘I kind of just said ‘I’m not sure if you’ve seen the media stuff going around but I find it a bit strange because we’ve had so many positive exchanges’ and I can’t really comprehend why this is happening.

Chalmers finished second behind the Chinese star in the 100m men’s freestyle final

‘He said “I respect you so much as a competitor and as a person”.

‘But it’s very hard because we both obviously don’t speak the same language. I know zero Chinese, so it’s quite hard to talk at the best of times but from my point of view, I don’t have any issues.

‘His race was amazing the other night and I’m honoured to be in the fastest race ever that’s been swum in the 100m freestyle in history. It’s an incredible feat.’

Chalmers’ secret weapon at the Paris Games might be his new fiancee Ingeborg Løyning.

The Aussie had been through a rollercoaster of emotions at the 2022 Commonwealth Games as claims of a ‘love triangle’ emerged between himself and lovebirds Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson.

The ordeal led to Chalmers seriously considering quitting the sport he loves, but he looks fully rejuvenated in Paris with a vengeance with Løyning.

While the swimmers weren’t part of the opening ceremony along the River Seine in Paris, he has shared images from inside the Australian athletes village, including one of him all loved up with Løyning.

‘My Norwegian princess,’ he captioned the image with a heart emoji.

Chalmers and Løyning announced their engagement in June this year, putting an end to the ‘love triangle’ rumours once and for all.