{"id":513775,"date":"2022-10-01T18:33:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T01:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=513775"},"modified":"2022-10-01T19:01:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T02:01:25","slug":"australias-freestyle-sprint-king-kyle-chalmers-pumped-for-a-powerhouse-finish-to-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/australias-freestyle-sprint-king-kyle-chalmers-pumped-for-a-powerhouse-finish-to-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Freestyle Sprint King Kyle Chalmers Pumped For A Powerhouse Finish To 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s Freestyle Sprint King Kyle Chalmers Pumped For A Powerhouse Finish To 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kyle Chalmers<\/strong> has revealed he is back in his happy place and will throw his heart and soul into swimming as fast as he can over the next three months in the multi-million dollar Fina World Cup Series and the Fina World Short Course Championships.<\/p>\n

The 2016 Olympic champion and World Short Course record holder was born to swim and swim faster than almost anyone else in the world and the Australian Swim Team feeds off his energy and never-say-die attitude.<\/p>\n

And there has been a collective sigh of relief in the sport\u2019s corridors of power over the past week after a series of media interviews with the sprint king saying he is in a better place and ready to lead the Dolphins when a Fina World Championship meet returns to Melbourne with the $US 2.16 million Short Course Worlds in December for the first time since 2007.<\/p>\n

Chalmers has spoken candidly about the media storm that threatened to derail his career saying he was left mentally scarred from media stories surrounding his relationship with National teammates Emma McKeon<\/strong> and Cody Simpson<\/strong> earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"CG2022

HAPPY CAMPERS: Australia’s victorious Commonwealth Games Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team (L-R)_ Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan, Kyle Chalmers and Will Yang. Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr (Swimming Australia\/CGA)<\/p><\/div>\n

Chalmers was again quick to pour cold water on his relationship with his team mates saying \u201cthere was no feud whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was ready to retire from the sport he loves before the World\u2019s and Commonwealth Games and would ask officials to send him home early from Birmingham before finding the mental strength to swim on, winning the 100m freestyle in Games record time.<\/p>\n

And he is now priming himself for a powerhouse finish to 2022.<\/p>\n

Chalmers told News Corp:<\/em> \u201cI\u2019ve formed a very good relationship with the pool that I think is the greatest form of meditation for me – when I jump in and just swim, with no coach and no pressure and just swim for fun,\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cSwim a kilometre maybe and in my own mind I\u2019m just zoned out to the world…it\u2019s probably my safest place and it\u2019s my greatest form of meditation these days and something I try to do even while I\u2019m on a break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my sport, I love my job, I love what comes with it and the travel and being able to have this time off has been refreshing and nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have to find peace with everything and I do love what I do and I love being able to travel and swimming and representing my country \u2013 there\u2019s no greater feeling. I\u2019m definitely in a good place with swimming.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body is the best it\u2019s felt in a really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the whole saga left him unsettled, a couple of months on, he prefers to focus on his successes \u2013 among them two gold medals at World Championships, a haul of seven Commonwealth Games gold medals, a Pan Pacific Championships gold medal and four Oceania Championships gold medals.<\/p>\n

The lad from Port Lincoln, known affectionately as the \u2018big tuna\u2019, still has a list of achievements he has to tick off; the 2024 Paris Olympics at the top of the list.<\/p>\n

And after overcoming his heart ailment and surgery in 2019 for a long-term condition, and shoulder surgery last year, he\u2019s taking nothing for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a few more things to do and I\u2019ll be a happy man,\u2019\u2019 Chalmers told journalist Jackie Epstein.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just the 100m freestyle, it\u2019s just ticking off all the boxes in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done an Olympic gold medal, Pan Pacs gold medal<\/a>, Oceania, Commonwealth Games now, junior world champs; I\u2019ve got the world record in short course.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorld championship long course and short course gold medals I still have to do and then I\u2019ve got the clean sweep in that event. World short course is at end of the year (at home) and it\u2019s an important one to get the job done in that event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I have a crack at world long course and if I can go out with a bang in Paris and do well there, I can have a pretty successful career to look back on and be pretty content and happy that I\u2019ve achieved everything I wanted to and set my sights on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a few things to go and a lot of hard work to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just take it as it comes. My body could give way tomorrow so it\u2019s a hard thing to gauge.<\/p>\n

\u201cParis is the goal and I\u2019ll do everything right to get myself right for it. You have to be a bit flexible because you never know what\u2019s going to come up with your body and I just take it day by day to be the best I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epstein wrote that Chalmers\u2019 current peaceful state emanates from having time with family and friends before he heads to Europe on October 16 after confirming he has committed to the 2022 Fina World Cup Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to setting some more super-fast times in the 25m pool as well as really enjoying the sideline activities. I hear we have a sweet programme line-up so I\u2019m looking to find out what Berlin, Toronto and Indianapolis have in store,\u201d said Chalmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did I\u00a0set a world record during last year\u2019s Swimming World Cup<\/a>, but the experience both in and out of the competitive arena helped turn some good-natured rivalries into friendships.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tour gets underway in\u00a0Berlin<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(21-23 October) before heading over to North America for events in\u00a0Toronto<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(28-30 October) and\u00a0<\/strong>Indianapolis<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(3-5 November).<\/p>\n

Additional financial incentives include a USD $10,000 world record bonus as well as a USD $10,000 bump in pay for athletes that complete a \u201ccrown\u201d by winning the same event in all three city stops.<\/p>\n

There is also record financial incentives on offer for the 16th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Melbourne 2022.<\/p>\n

The total prize money is $US2.16 Million for the best ranked swimmers in individual events and for the best ranked relay teams in relay events. The prize money will be equally distributed to men and women for both individual athletes and relay teams from 1st place to 8th place.<\/p>\n

Individual & Relay Events<\/strong><\/p>\n