Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers’ first real test since heart surgery
WHY Kyle Chalmers is confident his heart won’t let him down again.
RIO 100m freestyle gold medallist Kyle Chalmers is confident his heart has healed from surgery and won’t reach elevated rates again as he contends his first major championship since his operation at his home pool in Adelaide.
Chalmers has been told there is only a tiny chance his condition would return and has essentially put it out of his mind as he swims in the national short course championships this week.
“That’s the biggest thing: hopefully I am past all of that now,” Chalmers said.
“It’s something I don’t have to worry about when I’m standing behind the blocks, knowing that my heart rate could go up to 200 and I might not be able to race.
“That’s what happened this time last year at short course.
“I was gearing up for the 100m freestyle when it happened.
“This year I’m pretty excited that I no longer have to worry about that.
“I think it’s like a one per cent chance that it can come back so I’m pretty certain that she’s come good.
“But I’ve got to go and see the cardiologist in a couple of months time to assess where things are at.”
As Chalmers prepared for this week’s meet at Marion all the television cameras and photographers had their lenses trained on him and he turned heads as he casually strolled around the pool deck.
It has been a marked change for Chalmers, who a couple of years ago attended meets in relative anonymity, but he has set out to do something good with the attention.
“The biggest thing has been going into races as the favourite,” Chalmers said. “Two years ago I was able to rock up to a meet like this, probably wasn’t even training properly at that stage and could do whatever I wanted and get away with it.
“Now it’s coming to the pool and have the cameras on me doing a training session.
“It’s daunting in a way and you see your peers watching what I do and trying to learn from me.
“But I do enjoy, especially with the guys in Adelaide.
“The younger guys coming through ... my biggest goal is to build the sport up in South Australia.
“So I do enjoy helping people out and helping them develop because I do want South Australia to be a home of swimming.
“We do have one of the best facilities in Australia.”
Chalmers will use this week’s event as an important springboard to next year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
Chalmers, who missed this year’s world championships because of heart surgery, will have a hectic meet and is prepared for the favouritism he brings to the pool.
To him, the main thing is just that he’s back racing at a major competition.
He will race in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, the 200 freestyle, the 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and a couple of relays if everything goes to plan.
“It is important,” Chalmers said yesterday. “I haven’t done a whole lot of training leading into this; I’ve been back in the pool for probably three months now which obviously isn’t a big block.
“So I haven’t really tapered down or recovered for this meet.
“I guess the Comm Games is the pinnacle of sport almost until Tokyo (the next summer Olympics).
“That’s what I’m training for now and this comp for me is just getting back in the pool racing.”