Kyle Chalmers has put his international 100m freestyle rivals on notice with another mind-blowing performance that cemented his reputation as one of the greatest relay swimmers in history.

Jack Cartwright, Flynn Southam and Kai Taylor had given Australia’s men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team an outside chance of a medal when 26-year-old Chalmers hit the water for what has become his trademark anchor leg.

But the Rio 2016 100m champion at one stage looked like he could even do the unthinkable and catch American anchor Caeleb Dressel as he produced an almighty swim to secure Australia the silver medal behind the US.

Chalmers’ incredible split of 46.59 seconds was the fastest of anybody in the race as he topped even Chinese world record holder Pan Zhanle (46.92) to prove he’ll be a legitimate gold medal threat in one of the strongest individual 100m fields ever seen.

Romanian teenage sensation David Popovici did not feature in the relay but the world’s best sprinters will now know they’ll need to be out their best to deny Chalmers, who won gold in the event in 2016 and finished runner-up in Tokyo behind Dressel, who will not defend his individual title in Paris.

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It’s not the first time Chalmers has single-handedly hauled Australia into medal spots – he produced a jaw-dropping final split of 46.44 seconds in Tokyo to power Australia to bronze in the men’s freestyle relay and also did the same in the medley relay in Rio.

“I do not think we could have wished to hope for anything better than that,” Aussie swim great Giaan Rooney said in commentary for Channel 9 of Chalmers’ performance in Paris.

“That was an exceptional swim.”

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Chalmers’ performance comes despite a disrupted build-up to these Games.

He underwent surgery in December to repair ligaments injured while playing Australian rules football, while he also battled illness and a back injury at the Australian trials, prompting him to drop the 100m butterfly from his program.

The US quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel came home in 3min 09.28sec with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and Italy bronze in 3:10.70.

The Americans, who were reigning champions, had their work cut out after the opening leg with Chinese 100m world record holder Pan putting in a scorching two laps.

But the US hauled themselves back into contention with Dressel powering them to the finish line despite Chalmers eating into the margin.

China, who are competing under a doping cloud, finished out of the medals in fourth.

The United States have long dominated the event, winning 10 of the 14 times it has been on the Olympic programme before Paris.

For Dressel, 27, it was his eighth gold medal from three Olympics, and he was tearful in the celebrations.

“I mean, you can’t help it. You can’t explain this moment. So you’re on the podium watching the flag go up. Hunter (crying) actually happened before the flag went up. So it’s really special seeing that,” he said.

Dressel won five golds in Tokyo three years ago but took time out from the sport before coming back in time to qualify.

— with AFP