Gold medallist Kyle Chalmers has successful heart surgery

Kyle Chalmers has posted on social media after he had surgery to fix a heart condition.

Kyle Chalmers has taken to Instagram to declare his heart surgery a success. Picture: Supplied

The doctors of Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers are confident they have ­successfully addressed his heart condition after a surgical ­procedure conducted in Adelaide yesterday.

The 18-year-old Chalmers, who was diagnosed with a condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia when he was a child, underwent a procedure called a catheter ablation in his home town yesterday.

“Double thumbs up because this time my heart surgery was successful! Thank you all for the support,” Chalmers, 18, said on Instagram.

A catheter was inserted through a vein in his groin and up into his heart and used to burn off misfiring nerve endings that were causing his heart beat to race without warning.

A series of episodes of arrhythmia have disrupted both his training and his racing since his Rio Olympic triumph, and forced him out of the Australian team that will contest the world championships in Budapest next month.

His doctors first tried to do a catheter ablation two years ago, but they were unable to trigger the arrhythmia, which they needed to see to identify which electrical impulses were causing the episodes.

Despite that setback, Chalmers had relatively few problems during his Olympic preparation and had hoped he was growing out of the condition.

However, it returned with a vengeance after the Olympics and had become increasingly ­unpredictable.

He decided with his family, his doctors and his coach, Peter Bishop, last month that surgery was his best option if he was to resume his career at the highest level.

This time the doctors decided to operate without a general anaesthetic to improve the chances of a successful surgery. Afterwards they told Chalmers’s father, Brett, a former AFL star, that they were pleased with the outcome.

The swimmer is likely to be released from hospital today.

Bishop said unless there were unforeseen complications, he was hopeful Chalmers could resume training in two weeks and be ready to race again by late August.

The coach has also withdrawn from the national team in order to guide the Olympic gold medallist through his recovery.

“If it’s been as successful as we’ve heard, he should never have the problem again,’’ a relieved Bishop said yesterday.

Provided Chalmers makes a smooth return to the water, he still plans to get some international racing experience this year.

Despite his Rio triumph, becoming the first Australian man in 48 years to win the 100m freestyle title, he is still a relatively inexperienced international competitor.

He hopes to return to the fray at the Champions for Charity event in Rome on August 8-9.