Kyle Chalmers: Destined For Greatness
By David Rieder
Kyle Chalmers never dreamed of swimming in the Olympic Games, winning a gold medal and watching the Australian flag hoisted into the rafters of a 15,000-seat arena while the tune of “Advance Australia Fair” echoed through the building. No, Chalmers envisioned a future in which he would follow in his father’s footsteps into the Australian Football League.
“I kind of got into swimming because I had a 10-meter swimming pool in my backyard, so I could comfortably swim a few laps,” Chalmers said. “As a 9-year-old kid in Port Lincoln, that kind of got me onto the school swimming team, just because I was one of very few people who could actually swim that distance.”
When he was 16, he traveled to Sydney for Australia’s national swimming championships, a trip he described as necessary “for the experience of racing the big boys, I guess.” Chalmers spoke casually about that 2015 national meet as if it were any other weekend meet and not some potentially life-changing event. But in the 100 meter free, Chalmers “managed to slip through to the final and ended up getting fourth.”
Sounds nonchalant—except he had actually lowered his lifetime best by 8-tenths to 48.69 and qualified for his first World Championships team. He would represent Australia in the 400 free relay a few months later in Kazan, Russia.
And then he went home and went out for the school football team. And a mere two months before leaving for Russia, Chalmers got hurt while playing football, cracking a bone in his wrist and injuring ligaments in his ankle.
Naturally, the powers that be in Swimming Australia were less than pleased.
“I got a few calls from people from Swimming Australia, people a bit higher up, and they told me then and there I had to make the decision whether I was going to represent Australia in swimming or whether I was going to play football,” Chalmers said. “I kind of made that decision that I wanted to go to World Champs.”
Chalmers pinpointed that turn of events as the spark that convinced him to take swimming seriously for the first time. He was ready to put aside his dreams at professional football in order to pursue a new one.
At 18, he won Olympic gold in the men’s 100 free. After undergoing heart surgery in 2017, he rebounded in 2018 to win a combined nine medals (five gold) at the Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games.
Now, all eyes are on Chalmers to win gold at this month’s World Championships.
To read about Kyle Chalmers’ rise to the Olympic platform and his plans for World Champs,
check out the full July 2019 issue of Swimming World Magazine, available now!
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FEATURES
019 CRUNCH TIME!
by Michael Randazzo
With the Olympic Games a little more than a year away, the U.S. men’s water polo team—whose head coach predicted a gold medal in Tokyo—has yet to qualify. They’ll get a chance to punch their ticket if they can finish first at the Pan American Games next month in Lima, Peru.
023 THE VALUE OF AQUATIC SPORTS: TEDDY CANN SAVES THE MAY
by Bruce Wigo
While serving as a seaman onboard the USS May in November 1917, Tedford “Teddy” Cann, an elite swimmer, water polo player and all-around athlete, risked his life to find—and fix—a leak in a flooded compartment, thereby saving the ship.
026 DESTINED FOR GREATNESS
by David Rieder
Perhaps it was always meant to be that Kyle Chalmers would be a champion swimmer. Despite his childhood dreams of playing professional football, he eventually decided to pursue swimming seriously in 2015. The next year, at 18, he won Olympic gold in the men’s 100 free. After undergoing heart surgery in 2017, he rebounded in 2018 to win a combined nine medals (five gold) at the Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games. Now, all eyes are on Chalmers to win gold at this month’s World Championships.
COACHING
010 LESSONS WITH THE LEGENDS: RATKO RUDIC
by Michael J. Stott
014 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: PREVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL SWIM COACHES ASSOCIATION HALL OF FAME SUMMIT
by Rod Havriluk
The ISCA Hall of Fame Summit, Aug. 27-30, in Clearwater Beach, Fla., will once again include a wide variety of topics, international presenters and participants from many countries. The presentations will emphasize the WHY (the scientific basis) as well as the HOW (the strategies for applying the science) to improve swimmer performance.
016 PLAN B: COLLEGE CLUB TEAM OPTION (Part 2)
by Michael J. Stott
College Club Swimming has been offering more and more athletes the opportunity to continue participating in the sport they love. In Part 2 of this two-part series, Swimming World explores more personal perspectives from swimmers pursuing their aquatic passion while enjoying a college experience unencumbered by the demands of a varsity athlete.
020 SPECIAL SETS: WORKOUTS OF A WORLD CHAMPION
by Michael J. Stott
In 2017, Coach Gregg Troy put together a plan to maximize Caeleb Dressel’s opportunities at the World Championships in Budapest. Following are eight workouts done by Dressel in his preparation for what resulted in a record seven gold medals.
043 Q&A WITH COACH ANTHONY NESTY
by Michael J. Stott
044 HOW THEY TRAIN ROBERT FINKE
by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING
013 DRYSIDE TRAINING: EXERCISE EQUIPMENT SERIES—MULTI-EQUIPMENT PROGRAM FOR STRENGTH AND POWER
by J.R. Rosania
JUNIOR SWIMMER
046 UP & COMERS: RAQUEL MALDONADO
by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
009 BEYOND THE YARDS
022 OFFICIAL WORD
025 DID YOU KNOW? MARK SPITZ & PIETER VAN DEN HOOGENBAND
030 2019 AQUATIC DIRECTORY
042 DADS ON DECK
047 GUTTER TALK
048 PARTING SHOT