Australian freestyle sprint King Kyle Chalmers Returns To Japan To Wind Up 2023 Year To Remember
Freestyle sprint king Kyle Chalmers will be joined by Matt Temple, Lizzy Dekkers, Bradley Woodward and See-Bom Lee who will spearhead a group of 24 Australian swimmers for the Japan Open Meet which starts in Tokyo today.
They will connect with the select group of 13 Australian breaststrokers under two-time Olympic coach Leigh Nugent, who have been in Japan this week on a special collaborative camp at the Japan Sports Institute.
Chalmers (Marion, SA) will wind up what has been a stellar year for the Olympic champion, who claimed his first individual world long course crown in the men’s 100m freestyle at this year’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, spearheading the Dolphins gold medal relay assault.
TEMPLE TIME: Matt Temple on the fly in Tokyo. Photo Courtesy:Delly Carr (Swimming NSW).
Australian head coach Rohan Taylor has revealed that Chalmers has made a full recovery from an ankle injury, suffered while playing a game of AFL Football on his return to South Australia.
“I’ve just spent two or three days in Adelaide with Kyle’s coach Peter Bishop’s program and Kyle looks good and has fully recovered from the ankle injury,” said Taylor, who was overnight named the AIS Coach Of The Year, after steering the Dolphins to a memorable World Championships in Fukuoka.
“Both he and especially Matt Temple were in good spirits and looked in great shape.”
Chalmers and Temple will be joined in Tokyo by fellow South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) swimmers Brittany Castelluzzo and recently joined Queensland sprinter Dylan Andrea.
While Fukuoka 200m butterfly silver medallist Dekkers and her Chandler training partner Ella Ramsay under coach Vince Raleigh, have also made the trip to race in their lead up to the Queensland State Championships (December 9-15) at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre.
There is also a group from the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) under SOPAC head coach Adam Kable.
The five strong NSW group consists of Tokyo Olympian Se-Bom Lee (SOPAC), backstroking ace Bradley Woodward (Mingara, NSW) Alex Quach and Matt Galea (SOPAC) and Stuart Swinburn (City of Sydney).
The bulk of the Australian group is made up of the 13 strong Australian breaststrokers under the guidance of two-time Olympic head coach Nugent who have dived head-first into one of the swimming’s hottest melting pots in Japan this week.