THE theme of the night at the Olympic swim trials in Adelaide was ‘Top Gun’ and the man who won the dogfight that was the 100m freestyle final was world number one Cameron McEvoy.

The 21-year-old finished ahead of the 17 year-old local kid Kyle Chalmers in a time of 47.04 seconds – just .13 of a second outside the world record

But while McEvoy couldn’t quite beat the world mark, Chalmers looked to have gone one better, with Swimming Australia contacting FINA after the race to confirm that his time of 48.03 was a new junior world record.

McEvoy was delighted with his win, but couldn’t help but feel emotions of “so close but yet so far” regarding the seven-year-old world record of 46.91 held by Brazil’s Cesar Cielo.

media_camera Cameron McEvoy and Kyle Chalmers are off to Rio for the 100m freestyle.

“If I’d known I was that close there might have been something in me that would have pushed me a bit further,” he said.

“It’s unbelievable and it puts me in a good position come Rio but in saying that the Olympics has a history of world number ones going in first and not coming out with the gold.

“The Olympics are notorious for that because the mental games of being able to step up on the day are levels above anywhere else.

“I’m very much aware that everyone else in the world will be sitting on their couches watching this race and firing them up getting ready to get back into training at 5am just to get me. So although it’s good I can’t sit back and relax.”

The blue ribbon event of the meet was fought out with all the volume, atmosphere and macho posturing of an Olympic final and when Chalmers, son of former Adelaide football star Brett Chalmers touched the wall ahead of James Roberts and London silver medallist James Magnussen, the roar all but lifted the roof.

There was plenty of pressure on the youngster in front of his home town crowd, but he handled it superbly.

media_camera James Magnussen congratulates Cameron McEvoy on his big win.

“I began to shake a bit when I was putting on my goggles, but it wasn’t too bad,” he said.

“I had to stay calm in the first fifty (metres). I could see when I was breathing that I was close to them which was good for me because my second fifty is always the strongest part of my race.

“I just enjoyed the race and enjoyed the experience of racing against those guys. I had a whole lot of fun tonight.”

James Magnussen, who vowed to make amends after finishing second in London will now have now to chase 100m gold as a member of the relay team.

He will be joined by Roberts and probably fifth placed Sydney-born ACT-based sprinter Matthew Abood but there will be a long wait for 20-year-old sixth-placed William Stockwell until the team is announced on Thursday night to see if he has followed in his parents’ footsteps and made the plane to Rio.

Stockwell’s parents are LA Olympic 100m silver medallist Mark Stockwell and Tracy Caulkins, the three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time world champion who is considered arguably the greatest female swimmer the USA has produced.