Paris Olympics 2024: How ‘King Kyle’ is dealing with his biggest challenge yet ahead of his third Olympic Games
Not many swimmers change coaches and homes so close to an Olympics, but Kyle Chalmers has, so how is the ‘King’ been able to switch lanes so quickly with Paris just around the corner?
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A new home, a new coach, but the same, old ferocious competitor.
Nothing much has really changed for Kyle Chalmers since his long-term coach Peter Bishop mysteriously stood down last month, prompting the ‘King’ to leave his home in South Australia and move to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to train under Ash Delaney.
By any standards, it was a massive gamble to take with the Paris Olympics already less than four months away, but Chalmers has taken it all in his stride.
Instead of cursing his rotten luck, Chalmers is viewing the unexpected upheaval as a chance for a fresh start as he prepares for the biggest challenge of his swimming career.
“Settling into my new home away from home,” he told his Instagram followers.
“The stimulation of new teammates, new pools to train in and new coach’s/support staff guiding my preparation has been really beneficial for me.
“I’m confident that this move has not only been the best thing for my swimming career, but also the best thing for my mental and emotional health. as they say a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer! Loving the Queensland lifestyle and really looking forward to the months ahead.”
Chalmers has already won every major title in 100m freestyle swimming but hasn’t given up hope of a second Olympic gold to go with the one he nabbed at Rio in 2016 when he was still in high school.
Nearing 26, he’s now one the veterans being hunted by a wave of super-fast teenagers from China and Eastern Europe, but isn’t backing away from the fight.
“Kyle is such a racer, he just loves the challenge,” Australia’s head coach Rohan Taylor said.
“Whenever there’s a big challenge in front of him, he just really embraces it.
“I’ve seen him train a couple of times in the last week and he’s looking really good and seems to be really happy and just ticking things along.”
Chalmers hasn’t shown his hand so far this year, finishing second behind William Yang at last month’s NSW State Open in Sydney in a time well outside his best, but Taylor expects him to take things up a notch at this week’s Australian Open championships at the Gold Coast (April 17-20).
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Starting exactly 100 days before the Opening Ceremony in Paris, the nationals also mark the unofficial beginning of the final countdown to the Olympics.
By now, all the top competitors have completed their heaviest training workloads so are starting to finetune their preparations for the Olympic trials in mid June, when the squad for Paris will be selected.
“This is the meet where things start to get real serious,” Taylor said.
“For the coaches and the athletes, it’s the chance to see where they stand and work out what adjustments they need to make in the next eight weeks before the trials.”
While Chalmers remains the swimmer to beat in the men’s 100m, perhaps the most open race of all is the women’s 100m freestyle sprint.
The field is stacked with four former world and Olympic individual champions – Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan, Cate Campbell and her sister Bronte – as well as world-class relay performers in Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Brianna Throssell.
The swim team for Paris is expected to win a swag of medals, led by Ariarne Titmus, Kaylee McKeown, Sam Short and Cam McEvoy, who have all entered the nationals.
“I am expecting to see some pretty fast times, but with their best still to come,” Taylor said.
“Their main focus is on Paris and the trials but they’re all so competitive and so driven so they’ll be using that as motivation.”
2024 Australian swimming open championship, at the Gold Coast
Wednesday April 17-Saturday April 20
Heats start 10am, finals from 6pm
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Originally published as Paris Olympics 2024: How ‘King Kyle’ is dealing with his biggest challenge yet ahead of his third Olympic Games
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