Kyle Chalmers says he feared a 100m fadeout

Kyle Chalmers has revealed he feared he would not qualify to swim the 100m freestyle at this year’s world championships.

Kyle Chalmers prepares to race in the men’s 100m freestyle in Brisbane.

Teenage sprint star Kyle Chalmers has revealed that he feared he would not qualify to swim the 100m freestyle at this year’s world championships, as the reigning Olympic champion, after a ­disrupted preparation.

He eventually finished second in both the 100m and 200m freestyle at the national trials in Brisbane this week to qualify for both events, but he said he had reconciled himself to being a relay swimmer only this year because of ongoing health issues.

Chalmers, 18, has battled to ­adjust to his new-found fame and to keep his health in the eight months since he upset the world’s best sprinters to claim the Olympic gold medal in the most prestigious event in the pool.

He was forced out of the ­national short course titles last November when he had an ­episode of heart arrhythmia, was sidelined with a sinus infection at the NSW titles last month, and then contracted a chest infection leading into the national trials.

“There’s been a lot of interruptions and I’ve been sick twice as well, I had that sinus infection at NSW and I’ve had a chest ­infection the last couple of weeks so I’ve been on antibiotics leading into this competition so I guess I wasn’t expecting much, but I’ve done what I needed to do to get onto the team, which is what really matters,’’ he said.

“My goal was to make the relay, which I did, and to qualify individually is a bonus.’’

Cameron McEvoy restored his domestic supremacy in the national 100m final, winning his fourth consecutive title in 47.91sec, the fastest time in the world so far this year, while Chalmers finished ­second in 48.20sec, clinching the second individual spot for the world titles.

“I’ve been training more for the 200 so I didn’t even expect to go that fast,’’ Chalmers said.

“It was a good race to be part of and it was awesome to see Cam back firing in his home state and the crowd loved it.

“It’s exciting as well to see a guy like Jack Cartwright (who finished a close third in 48.43sec), who I’ve gone through my childhood ­swimming with at national age, to see him progress onto the senior. “I know my experience of racing at worlds in 2015, at 16 I think I was when I qualified, was crucial for me leading into 2016 Olympics ­because I had that experience of racing internationally on a relay. So Jack’s going to get that ­experience. Alex (Graham) is back swimming well as well. It’s going to be a good relay team and a really good experience going forward.’’

This year’s men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team has an average age of 19, with two 18-year-olds, but national head coach Jacco Verhaeren predicted it would be “competitive’’ in Budapest.

Chalmers also confirmed that he wanted to swim the individual 200m freestyle in Budapest, which will be his first major outing in the event.

He finished second behind ­fellow Olympic gold medallist Mack Horton in the 200m final and Horton is undecided if he will add it to his repertoire of 400m and 1500m events this year. But Chalmers announced he would “really like to do it’’.

“I’ve been training for the 200,’’ he said. “I think I probably could have gone faster (in the final) if I swam my own race. I got caught up in the race because I’ve never swum it at nationals or an international level, so I got caught ­watching Cam, thinking that Cam was swimming amazingly and that I was swimming amazing as well ­because I was hanging with him.

“Then the last lap I thought I ­already had Mack covered so I was focusing towards the other side of the field, and he ended up touching me out by 0.04.

“It’s all about that finish. He lunged into the wall, whereas I did the big straight arm touch which is not how you want to finish a race.’’

Chalmers said that was “lesson learned, big time’’ and he had taken care to get his finishes right in the 100m afterwards.

Verhaeren acknowledged that Chalmers had had to make some big adjustments in his life since the Olympics.

“You leave Australia almost anonymous and you come back world-famous, that’s a difficult position to be in,’’ he said.

“I think overall he’s handling and managing it very well. It has an impact for sure (but) I reckon he’s finding his way.

“I think the massive quality he has, is that he always gets to his 100 per cent (in racing).’’

Chalmers believes all he needs now is a good block of training leading into the world titles to be a contender for more international honours.

“Worlds is where it counts.’’ he said.

As he has proved in the last two years, he’s a big-time performer.