Kyle Chalmers Moves To Queensland And Unveils Ashley Delaney As The Coach To Plot His Olympic Campaign
Australian freestyle sprint king Kyle Chalmers has unveiled respected Queensland coach, 2008 Olympian Ashley Delaney as the man to guide his quest to win back his Olympic 100m freestyle crown in Paris.
The 25-year-old 2016 Olympic champion and 2020 Tokyo silver medallist has made the move north to join Delaney in Queensland after an investigation was launched into Chalmers long-time coach Peter Bishop, who had his accreditation revoked, forced to stand down from his role as Head Coach of the South Australian Sports Institute – banning him from the Paris Olympics.
Chalmers has joined Delaney and his prime pupil, recently crowned 50m backstroke world champion Isaac Cooper on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast after the recent NSW Championships in Sydney.
Delaney is the head coach at St Andrews Anglican College at Peregian Springs and is certainly making his mark in Queensland’s competitive coaching ranks after starting his coaching career in his native Victoria.
GUN COACH: Ashley Delaney hoping Kyle Chalmers will come up tops in Paris. Photo Courtesy Facebook.
While Chalmers has left his home base, training partners, including fellow Tokyo Olympian and Australian 100m butterfly record holder, Matt Temple (Marion, SA) and butterflying freestyle hopeful Brittany Castelluzo (Tree Tea Gully, SA) will both remain in Adelaide under newly appointed SASI head coach, Bishop’s former assistant, Craig Stewart.
“(Bish) is one of my greatest friends so I will still have him in that capacity…” Chalmers told Channel 7.
And on the move ? Chalmers remains philosophical, saying:
“It’s all part of sport isn’t it (and for me) I’ll swim as long as I possibly can..I love swimming.”
So keen was Chalmers to settle into his new surrounds that he drove the 1000km trek from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast on the Sunday after the NSW Championships so he would be on deck first thing Monday morning for work out.
Chalmers isn’t new to the Delaney program, often splitting his time between Adelaide and the Sunshine Coast – knowing full well Queensland’s tropical climate is conducive to swimming outdoors.
Delaney knows the task at hand, saying: “I’m here to make sure Kyle is in a happy place; we’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do; and that’s to have him in the best possible shape for the Olympics.”
Chalmers is the key to Australia’s men’s and mixed hopes – with the 2023 world champion looking like one of the boys most likely in the 100m freestyle – as well as the leader of the pack in Australia’s all-out relay assault – in the men’s and mixed freestyle and medleys.
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