Chelsey Edwards is a Lower Hutt-born sprint freestyle specialist and New Zealand's fastest woman in the 50m freestyle.  

Edwards has competed at three World Championships and is a Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist.  

The New Zealand record holder in the 50m freestyle, she has been a key member of various New Zealand relay teams since her Aquablack debut in 2019, and holds three individual national records across the sprint freestyle events. 

Edwards made her Aquablack debut at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, where she was part of the New Zealand women’s 4x200 metre freestyle relay team. The relay team’s performance secured a quota spot for New Zealand at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Prior to making her senior national team debut, Edwards established herself as a talented junior swimmer. At the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau, Bahamas, she won gold in the women’s 4x200 metre freestyle relay alongside teammates Lewis Clareburt, Zac Reid and Leticia Transom, with the team recording a time of 7:50.85. Despite battling illness throughout the competition, Edwards showed resilience and contributed to a memorable team victory.

Edwards continued to represent New Zealand at junior international level, competing at the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Suva, Fiji. She notably recorded an eighth-place finish in the 50 metre freestyle. 

Since stepping onto the senior international stage, Edwards has represented New Zealand at the 2022 FINA World Championships and the 2023 World Aquatics Championships – contributing strongly to relays. In 2022, Edwards was notably part of the team that reset the New Zealand record in the 4x100 metre mixed freestyle relay with their time of 3:27.91, narrowly missing out on a spot in the final.

In 2026, the sprinter is set to compete at her first Commonwealth Games – she will line up in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay and has been granted permission to start in the 50m and 100m freestyle.

Edwards is based at North Shore Swimming, traning under the guidance of coach Graham Hill.