Kyle Chalmers insists Cam McEvoy is the world’s best swimmer despite Rio disappointment

KYLE CHALMERS was Australia’s hero at the Rio Olympics, winning gold in the 100m freestyle. But the 18-year-old insists Cam McEvoy remains the benchmark in world swimming.

UPDATE: OLYMPIC champion Kyle Chalmers says he is in town to have a holiday, see some friends and swim a few laps.

The low-key approach to this week’s Australian championships isn’t because he has scaled the peak of his sport with his gold medal in the 100m freestyle in Rio, Australia’s first triumph in swimming’s blue riband event in 48 years, but rather that his training and racing since the Games have been well short of his 2016 campaign.

There was the extended holiday after the Olympics, then the heart scare at the national short course titles here in November and then an illness that forced him to withdraw from the NSW State championships last month.

“I haven’t had a whole lot of racing opportunities,’’ he said.

Australia's Kyle Chalmers celebrates winning the gold medal in Rio with Cameron McEvoy

“So it will be interesting to see how it goes, I’m here to have some fun and see some friends.

“World champs would be good if I make the team but if not I have my sights set on the Commonwealth games here on the Gold Coast.’’

However, while the Commonwealth Games is his long term priority, Chalmers does have one burning ambition that could be achieved this week.

Although he is an Olympic champion, he has never won a national title.

Standing in his way is Cam McEvoy, who went into the Olympics as the favourite after setting the world’s fastest time at the trials, but was forced to watch the then relatively unknown South Australia teenager stun the world.

Swimmer Kyle Chalmers at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre ahead of the 2017 Australian Swimming Championships. Pics Tara Croser.

“It is a privilege for me to race against him, he is the fastest man ever in a textile racing suit,’’ he said.

“To come to his home state and race against him in the 100m is a big challenge.

“He has done a massive block of training leading into this and I have read that he has made improvements to his stroke.

“It’s really exciting, he is a great mate of mine and I hope he bounces back this year and smashes it up, not only here but at world champs.’’

Cameron McEvoy’s Olympic campaign was deemed a flop by many. Picture. Brett Costello

Chalmers, still just 18-years-old, came to Brisbane for the short course titles late last year desperate to claim his first national title.

But in the final 25m of his warm-up before the final he suffered a sudden spike in his heart rate, a condition he has had all his life.

He revealed he underwent surgery in 2015 to try to correct the problem but doctors could not find its cause.

Although it ruled him out of further racing, he said it was the first time it has occurred in competition and if it were to ever happen again he now knows how to deal with it.

“It is something I’ve lived with my whole life, I had my first attack at 10 years old and I’ve learned to adapt,’’ he said.

“It is not a scare because I know what it is and now that I’ve had it in a competition I know what to do if it does come around again.’’

Originally published as Kyle Chalmers insists Cam McEvoy is the world’s best swimmer despite Rio disappointment