Jack Cartwright seals Commonwealth Games spot with courageous 100m freestyle swim

JACK Cartwright was rushed into an ambulance after worrying mid-race heart palpitations just the day before he swam his way onto his first Commonwealth Games team.

Swimmer Jack Cartwright with his proud parents after the 100m freestyle.

JACK Cartwright was rushed into an ambulance after worrying mid-race heart palpitations just the day before he courageously swam his way onto his first Commonwealth Games team.

The boy from Biloela who roared home from fifth on the turn to finish second behind Rio Olympics gold medallist Kyle Chalmers in Thursday night’s crack 100m freestyle field was incapable of even climbing on to the starting blocks 30 hours earlier.

It was a striking effort that was all heart.

On Wednesday, his meet looked over after his scare in the 200m freestyle heats at the Games trials on the Gold Coast when he failed to qualify for the final.

The rising star didn’t even get to the warm-down pool before he was put on a drip by alert Swimming Australia medical officer Rick Steltenpool and sent to hospital for tests.

Cartwright, 19, suffers the same heart condition, Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT), that forced Chalmers into corrective surgery last year.

“My max heartrate got up way over 200 (beats per minute),” Cartwright said.

Swimmer Jack Cartwright with his proud parents after the 100m freestyle.

“I got the palpitations in the first part of my 200m heat and it was just very hard to keep going.

“I spoke to Kyle and he said it’s pretty dodgy for that to happen during a race but it’s just one of those things.

“It feels great to get on the team. I mean my leg had seized up and I was lying in a hospital bed on Wednesday before I got the all-clear.”

The sprinter clocked a slick 48.60 sec for second behind Chalmers (48.16), who breathes to the right and had “no idea where I was positioned” when he finished on top from lane one.

Kyle Chalmers (right) celebrates winning the 100m freestyle final with Jack Cartwright.

Cartwright pipped Olympic finalist Cam McEvoy (48.62) and kept two two-time world champion James Magnussen (48.79) out of an individual swim in his pet event.

Cartwright said he’d been booked to see a heart specialist next week for advice on the spikes in heartrate without warning.

“It’s the same thing Kyle had and I’ll find out if the same surgery is warranted and the other options,” Cartwright said.

Kyle Chalmers after winning the final of the 100m freestyle.

“I’ll definitely be swimming at the Games I know that.

“It feels good knowing I can get through it. Kyle’s come back and won this final.”

Cartwright trains under Dean Boxall at the St Peters Western Club where the motivating young coach has been pushing him to personal bests.

Originally published as Jack Cartwright seals Commonwealth Games spot with courageous 100m freestyle swim