There was a jubilance and sense of bravado about Kyle Chalmers as Australia’s sprint king climbed from the water at the national swimming titles and strutted across the pool deck.
His heavily tattooed chest was puffed out and his big, white teeth were gleaming — a couple of indicators the Australian swimming alpha male is in a superb position three months out from his third Olympic campaign.
Knocking off two personal bests across three nights also suggests the Olympic gold medallist, who took time out from the sport in 2022 to focus on his mental health, is in a wonderful position, both mentally and physically, as he zeroes in on Paris 2024.
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At the national championships on the Gold Coast on Friday night, he clocked 21.98 seconds in the final of the men’s 50m freestyle. He finished second to world champion Cameron McEvoy, but the 50m freestyle is not his pet event and he won’t be racing it at the Paris Games.
On Thursday night, Chalmers had shattered his personal best in the 50m butterfly, dropping a 23.10 to clinch the national title.
“The smile says it all,” he posted to social media after the win.
“A happy swimmer is a fast swimmer, I can’t stress that enough.”
The South Australian will race his chief event, the 100m freestyle, at the national championships on Saturday night.
Chalmers is in an excellent frame of mind — he’s made that clear in a series of social media posts — despite a recent change of coach and interstate move, which saw him relocate from Adelaide to the Sunshine Coast after his coach, Peter Bishop, was stood down from his regular coaching duties in March.
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“I think for me I’m a very social person, so Adelaide is a very easy, safe place for me,” Chalmers told reporters poolside on Friday night.
“I have all my friends, I have my family, I have a job in Adelaide, I’ve lived there forever, really, since moving from Port Lincoln … Adapting to life without them has been different, but it’s been really nice also. I’ve had time to myself to watch movies or play PlayStation and be away from all the noise and distraction. In Queensland I’m not getting noticed at all, so I can live a pretty casual, normal lifestyle, which has been really fun and beneficial.”
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Chalmers is now training under coach Ash Delaney at St Andrews Swimming Club at Peregian Beach.
The 25-year-old is a genuine chance of claiming his second individual Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games, taking place across July and August.
Among his top rivals in the two-lap race are 19-year-old speed demons Zhanle Pan and David Popovici, the two fastest men in history in the 100m freestyle, and reigning Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel
Pan has a personal best of 46.80, Popovici 46.86 and Dressel 46.96.
Chalmers’ personal best is 47.08, which he’s clocked twice.
“It’s exciting,” Chalmers said of swimming a 50m freestyle personal best.
“I’ve been trying to go under 22 [seconds] since about 2015, so it’s really nice to do a PB [personal best].
“It’s an event I haven’t swum heaps of, but an event I’ve pushed hard in for a long time.
“It’s really good obviously for my 100m having that ‘easy speed’, really. I don’t train to do a 50m freestyle whatsoever, so knowing I can have that speed is going to be really beneficial for my front end.”
