SA superfish Kyle Chalmers off to world swimming champs

HE IS the SA superfish touted as the next Ian Thorpe, but Kyle Chalmers has his size 13 feet firmly on the ground.

16 year old Kyle Chalmers ahead of 50m freestyle heat during Australian Swimmining Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. pic. Phil Hillyard

HE IS the Glenelg North superfish touted as the next Ian Thorpe, but Kyle Chalmers has his size 13 feet firmly on the ground.

“Ian Thorpe was an Olympic gold medallist, a world record holder – he did pretty much everything you could achieve in the sport,” Chalmers says.

“I’m a 16-year-old swimmer who’s broken a few age group records but that’s pretty much all I’ve done so far.

“I want to do my own thing and hopefully get myself to the Olympics my own way.”

Comparisons arose while Chalmers – the son of former Port Adelaide and Crows footballer Brett Chalmers – was dominating national junior meets and breaking some of Thorpe’s old records.

Last week, Chalmers became the youngest Australian male since Thorpe to make a world championship squad.

The Immanuel College Year 11 student finished fourth in his first national 100m freestyle final in 48.69 sec – a time which would have won him a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

It ensures Chalmers will swim alongside big guns James Magnussen and Cameron McEvoy in Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay team at the world titles in Kazan, Russia, in July.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in.

“I just came over here thinking it was another competition to get experience racing against the older guys.

“I never thought I’d be on a senior team this early, at 16.

“I’m over the moon.”

Kyle Chalmers touches the wall after his 50m freestyle heat at last week’s Australian Swimming Championships Picture: Phil Hillyard

Chalmers, 16, dipped his toe into swimming seven years ago while growing up in Port Lincoln.

He had followed his dad into football, playing for Lincoln South, but his path changed when he made a Lower Eyre Peninsula SAPSASA swimming squad.

“Kyle came to Adelaide for the country championships and won three gold medals in his individual events then got chosen in a state team,” Brett recalls.

It surprised Brett, a key-position player in 75 games for the Power and Crows who had no swimming background.

“I didn’t follow swimming except for the Olympics,” he says.

“You see your child win medals and think maybe there’s a bit of talent there, but it’s hard to gauge city versus country ... so we didn’t really know until he was mixing and matching it with most of them.”

Kyle’s success in the pool led the Chalmers family to move from Port Lincoln to Adelaide four years ago.

He started at Norwood Swimming Club before joining Marion, where he has trained under Shelly Jarrett.

While making a splash in the pool, Chalmers has played football for Immanuel and continued to grow, now standing 194cm – 1cm shy of his dad.

His height has been marked in recent years on a laundry wall and Brett reckons “he’s nearly got me”.

“Hopefully I can get him soon,” Kyle says.

Chalmers lauds his coaches, school and family, including his grandparents, mum Jodie and brother Jackson, 13, for their support over the years.

He says his dad, in particular, has been a massive influence.

“Dad obviously has an understanding of what it’s like to be an elite athlete and has helped me a lot over my short journey to get me where I am today.”

Brett says he has always told Kyle to “dream big” but he has exceeded his expectations.

“A lot of people think he’s got the ability to go further and I think now Kyle probably believes that, that he can mix it with the big guys.

“If you believe you can get to that next level you’ll get there.”

Kyle Chalmers at last week’s Australian Swimming Championships. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The national titles also served as a learning curve outside the pool for Chalmers.

It was the first time he had been to an interstate swimming meet without his parents for an extended period of time.

“It’s not every day as a 16 year old you get to travel overseas or interstate and have to fend for yourself at such an early age,” Brett says.

“AFL footballers are now 18 before they get drafted and are already past that age.

“He has to grow up real quick.

“He’s very mature for his age and to make these sides you have to be.

“You can’t rely on mum and dad to be there or else you’ll get left behind.”

Brett says his son has stayed humble despite his success, keeping his medals hidden in shoeboxes in his bedroom and trophies tucked away in a cupboard.

“He’s very modest in what he’s done and wants to be a normal 16-year-old kid.

“Things have come along his way and he’s been gifted a talent.

“Hopefully it takes him further to what he wants to achieve.”

For Chalmers, the ultimate goal is the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

He attended a senior squad training camp on the weekend and will swim four events at the national age championships this week before returning to Adelaide later this month.

A plan to play under-18 football at Glenelg is on hold, though he will line up for Immanuel’s First XVIII team this year to have a kick with mates.

Despite the “next Thorpe” tag, Chalmers insists he has no personal expectation ahead of next year’s Olympic trials.

“Rio is definitely a dream.

“It’d be very special if I do make the team.

“I just want to keep a clear head and hope for the best.”

Footy in the blood

KYLE Chalmers kicks a football to himself before most of his swimming races.

“It warms me up and gets my mind focused on the race,” he says.

Chalmers, 16, has emerged as one of Australia’s brightest swimming prospects after making the national 4x100m freestyle relay team for the world championships in Kazan, Russia in July.

But the son of former Port Adelaide and Crows big man Brett Chalmers says football is never far from his mind, describing it as a “fallback” if things do not pan out in the pool.

His swimming commitments will stop him from joining Glenelg’s under-18 squad but he will play with mates this season for Immanuel’s First XVIII, where his dad is an assistant coach.

Chalmers, a key-position player cum ruckman like his dad, will be eligible for next year’s AFL draft, though the Rio de Janeiro Olympics looms.

“Next year is going to be a big year with school and swimming hopefully if I do get selected on the (2016 Rio de Janeiro) Olympic team,” Chalmers says.

“If the swimming does fail I’ve got football to hopefully fall back on.

“I haven’t been injured too many times through football and it’s something I really enjoy doing.

“At the moment I’m enjoying doing both so I think I will stick for that this year and reassess that next year, depending on where I’m at and if I enjoy being on the senior team.”

Chalmers, a Power supporter, says football is an outlet amid the strict training demands involved with trying to become an Olympic swimmer.

“It’s really difficult for me to give (football) up because I know if I did, I don’t think I’d be swimming the best I am.

“Footy helps me take my mind off things.

“Hopefully I can play a few games (for Immanuel) before I head off to Russia in July.”

Kyle Chalmers with his father and former AFL player Brett at Marion Aquatic Centre last year. Picture: Mark Brake

Chalmers’ football journey began in Port Lincoln at Lincoln South, where his dad coached a senior premiership in 2002.

Former Lincoln South president Leigh Clarke says Chalmers was a “star in his grade”.

“It was fairly obvious he knew how to play footy,” Clarke says.

After the family moved to Adelaide in 2011, Chalmers joined Immanuel College and Glenelg.

His swimming training got in the way of him playing for the Tigers’ under-16s last year.

But Glenelg talent manager Brenton Hole says Chalmers has tremendous potential – despite being somewhat of an unknown quantity because club officials have seen “bugger all of him”.

“He played OK in some trials last year, is a big lad obviously and would go all right at footy,” Hole says.

“He’s quite agile for a big bloke, moves really well and can kick and catch it quite well.

“He’d be one we’d be trying to get into our group once he’s available, simply because of his potential.”

Brett, who played 75 games for Port Adelaide and the Crows, suspects his son enjoys footy more than swimming because he gets to play with his mates.

“That’s Kyle in a nutshell.

“He thinks more about his mates, how he can help them and be part of a team.

“Each year he says ‘I really want to give footy a go’, but I think deep down he realises he’s been blessed with a talent and wants to give it as much as he can.

“Swimming has taken over at the moment but he still loves having a kick.”