As Veteran Leader, Chase Kalisz Eager to Make Second Olympics Count

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

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As Veteran Leader, Chase Kalisz Eager to Make Second Olympics Count

Chase Kalisz was 14 or 15 years old, kicking his way through a set at North Baltimore Aquatic Club and chatting with Michael Phelps. It was after the Beijing Olympics, and the precocious young IMer was picking Phelps’ brain for anything that might be useful.

The subject of the day was about Phelps’ Beijing experience, specifically the reversal of morning finals and evening prelims that will again be the schedule at this month’s Tokyo Games. The answer from Phelps seems applicable for much more about Kalisz’s journey these days.

Chase Kalisz, right, and Jay Litherland; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

“He just said, ‘You’re in the moment, and you’ve got to be ready for it. Racing’s racing,’” Kalisz recounted during a call with media this month. “And that’s how I’ve proceeded forward with it.”

Kalisz has moved forward from being that young guy under Phelps’ wing to a status that even catches him by surprise. At 27 years old, his elite career is almost a decade old. He’s got a silver medal from the Rio Olympics and medals from each of the last four World Championships, no easy feat. He’s closer to the end of his career than the beginning, and the Tokyo Olympics offers a full-circle moment, where the once exuberant youngster is now a sober veteran leader.

“It definitely is different,” Kalisz said. “I remember being the wide-eyed young kid running around with endless energy like I see some of these young kids on the team now and their pure excitement. And now I go to practice and try to recover and mentally reset for my next workout. …. It’s been a very eye-opening experience. It’s cool for it to come full circle to see the guys that are here now where I was and kind of think back and how I’ve thought of the older guys when I was their age. I’m definitely enjoying this trip with a different perspective.”

Kalisz wasn’t exactly an unknown, even at 22, in Rio. His emergence on the global scene came at the 2013 World Championships, with gold in the 400 individual medley. He won bronze two years later, so his silver in Rio should’ve taken no one by surprise. His full arsenal was obviously limited, since he had to compete with guys like Phelps and Ryan Lochte to represent the U.S. in the 200 IM.

Kalisz has been part of international delegations every year since that first Worlds. He’s an American record-holder and a three-time NCAA champion. But being on international delegations with Phelps, Lochte, Nathan Adrian and others meant the full weight of leadership evaded him.

The Tokyo trip, he said, is the first one where he’s felt like an elder statesman. And he’s taken on a larger leadership role, following the lead of captain Ryan Murphy.

Chase Kalisz. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Kalisz’s task in Tokyo is made more difficult by his specific events. He and fellow former University of Georgia Bulldog Jay Litherland will reprise those roles in the 400 IM in Tokyo, after finishing second and fifth, respectively, in Rio. Litherland is coming off a silver medal at 2019 Worlds, where Kalisz finished 10th and didn’t make finals. Kalisz is joined by Michael Andrew, both medal contenders, in the 200 IM.

But the IM is an event of particular pride for the host nation. Kosuke Hagino earned silver in Rio in the 200 IM behind Phelps. He’s also the reigning Olympic champion in the 400 IM, though he won’t defend his title in Tokyo, swimming only the shorter medley. The 400 IM bronze medalist from Rio, Daiya Seto, will be in the water for both events, having swept them at Worlds in 2019.

All three are around the same age – Seto turned 27 in May; Hagino will turn 27 a week after the Games – and Kalisz and Seto are uniquely linked in the breadth of their careers dating to 2013.

“I know my first World Championships was his first World Championships, and we’ve gone back and forth throughout the years,” Kalisz said of Seto. “He’s an incredible racer, he’s one of my good friends and someone I respect very much. It’s a unique opportunity where I’m racing him in his home country, and I can only imagine what an honor it is to have an Olympics in your home country.”

Kalisz understands where he is in his swimming journey. For non-Phelpsian mortals, a second Olympics at 27 as an American could very probably be his last. Unprompted, he volunteered that he may be looking at the final two 400 IMs of his career, should be pursue a late-career distance down-shift.

But he also alluded to having a difficult year ahead of Tokyo, with “many obstacles that I had to overcome this year, some publicized, some not.” That leaves him wanting to maximize what he gets out from Tokyo, whether more meets await him down the road or not.

“That’s really what the culmination of this year for me has been, has been embracing that, looking forward to that, and that’s exactly how I am,” he said. “I don’t know much longer I have with them left. I could have two 4IMs left in my career – I don’t want to say that for sure, I don’t want to commit to that for sure, I could go longer. But there’s not too many left of those for me, so I’m going to make every single one of them hurt as much as I can, and I’m looking forward to it.”

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