Proud South Australian Kyle Chalmers has etched his name in the history books, winning a silver medal in the 100m freestyle at the Paris Olympics.

This incredible achievement cements his legacy as Australia’s greatest male freestyle sprinter.

After winning gold in Rio, then silver in Tokyo, he claimed silver again to become the first man since Alex Popov to medal in three consecutive Games.

His time of 47.48s was a season best, just ahead of Romanian David Popovici (47.49s), who he held off by just 0.01s.

New Olympic champion Pan Zhanle of China demolished his own world record to win in an astonishing time of 46.40s.

A phenomenal final 50m powered Chalmers to stand on the podium after he was eighth off the blocks and eighth at the turn.

After the race, Chalmers reflected on his Olympic performance to date before touching on what he'd like to achieve next.

"I did everything I possibly could and I'm really proud of that performance so to get silver at my third Olympic Games, to be on the podium three consecutive times, is something I'm going to be very, very proud of and no one can ever take away from me," Chalmers said.

"Coming in, you know there's three guys with a faster PB than me, and being able to stay controlled and calm and know the pressure and expectation with so much on me, I'm just really, really stoked with that.

"It means so much, especially at the back end of my career, I guess my first one I was very young and naive and didn't know what it meant to be Olympian or an Olympic champion and then I had to work so hard and go through so much to get to Tokyo. To come away with silver there, that's probably the highlight of my swimming career.

"My biggest goal now is to inspire the next generation of swimmers coming through.

"I'm just a kid from country South Australia who's managed to progress on the world stage in sport and for me I can't wait to go home to Port Lincoln and start inspiring the next generation to come through and help them believe that it is possible, and even just South Australians in general.

"I'm just so proud to be Australian/South Australian and from the small country town of Port Lincoln - I love it!"