Ian Thorpe backs Adelaide’s young swimming superstar Kyle Chalmers

IAN Thorpe has warned against expecting too much, too early of Adelaide’s emerging superstar Kyle Chalmers, saying the teen is a rare talent who can carry Australian swimming for years to come.

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IAN Thorpe has warned against expecting too much, too early of Adelaide’s emerging superstar Kyle Chalmers, saying the teen is a rare talent who can carry Australian swimming for years to come.

Chalmers, 17, has drawn comparisons to Thorpe through his success at last year’s world selection trials, where he became the fastest 16-year-old on the planet.

That arrival sparked his promotion to the country’s senior swimming team and excitement around his bid to win a place on the Dolphins’ team to Rio at next month’s Olympic selection trials in Adelaide.

Five-times Olympic gold medallist Thorpe said as impressive as Chalmers’ junior career was, history suggested his specialty as a 50m and 100m freestyler meant his best was still to come.

Ian Thorpe with Joel Edmonds and Kate Moffett at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre to promote the national championships here in April. Picture: Sarah Reed.

“He’s a very talented young swimmer, he seems to have his head screwed on pretty well and we saw the results from world junior championships last year,” Thorpe said.

“He’s so incredibly talented that he’s made a really good transition to the national team already because of the times he’s swimming.

“The thing to keep in mind, and what we’ve seen with sprint swimmers, is they actually mature quite a bit later.

“To produce the results Kyle has — and hopefully they continue to carry through — he’s the kind of swimmer we could see for a number of years to come.”

The parallels between Thorpe and Chalmers — son of former Port Adelaide and Crows footballer Brett Chalmers — grew stronger at last year’s selection trials for world championships when Chalmers clocked a 100m freestyle time that was quicker than the time a 16-year-old Thorpe set to win gold at the 1999 Pan Pacific titles.

SA Weekend-EMBARGO APPLIES CONTACT PICTURE DESK FOR DETAILS. Swimmer Kyle Chalmers at The Aquatic Centre at Marion. Picture by Matt Turner.

Thorpe was in Adelaide on Friday to promote a reunion of the sport’s greats including himself, Dawn Fraser, Libby Trickett, Michael Klim and John Konrads during next month’s Olympic trials at the SA Aquatic Centre in Marion.

Australia’s most decorated Olympian offered a veteran’s advice to Chalmers, saying even his most experienced teammates and rivals would suffer the same anxiety as the 17-year-old attempting to make his first Olympic team.

“The advice for any young athlete is to know that all the other athletes are equally as nervous as you are,” Thorpe said.

“They may not let it on, they may be better at covering it up — but they’re just as nervous.

“There’s a lot of expectation and challenges that come from this sport. I’ve seen friends and squad members who haven’t made Olympic teams who have Commonwealth Games gold medals but have never become Olympians.

“It’s tough. But sport wasn’t meant to be easy.”

Adelaide hosts the eight-day Australian Swimming Championships from April 7-14.