Few athletes in swimming command a pool deck like Kyle Chalmers. Even among a cohort of supreme athletes, he turns heads. With a torso bristling with tattoos and a neatly cropped moustache, the South Australian struts to his own rhythm.
Chalmers arrived for day one of competition at the Commonwealth Games bouncing a pink Sherrin football, a tribute to a sport that was his first and endearing love. It’s a refuge, too; when he struggled with his mental wellbeing at the trials in Adelaide, he found himself pulling on the boots for the Elliston Roosters.
Kyle Chalmers has dabbled in butterfly but shapes as the man to beat in his pet 100m freestyle.Credit:Getty
It has been a challenging year for the Rio Olympic 100m freestyle champion, who has struggled with shoulders so worn he could barely lift his arms above his head. He turned to an old favourite, butterfly, with a view that a change was as good as a holiday.
That carried him to the world championships in Budapest, where he forfeited his individual freestyle. He swims the 50m-100m fly double in Birmingham, but all roads lead to the 100m freestyle, with heats beginning on Sunday (from 7.30pm AEST) at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.
Chalmers will already go down as one of the greatest swimmers Australia has produced, backing up his Rio gold with silver in Tokyo in a scintillating showdown with American great Caeleb Dressell.
But it’s been six years since he stood on top of the podium at a major international meet and there is a distinct feeling of unfinished business at the Commonwealth Games, with Scotsman Duncan Scott claiming gold when he came to the Gold Coast on 2018.
Mixed 100m freestyle relay gold medallists, Emma McKeon, Mollie O’Callaghan, Kyle Chalmers and William Zu Yang.Credit:Getty
That makes it an important meet for the 24-year-old in terms of his road to Paris in 2024. Even with chief rivals such as Dressell and Romanian teenager David Popovici missing, nothing soothes the athlete’s tempestuous soul quite like winning.
“I definitely think it’s a motivator for sure,” Australia’s head coach Rohan Taylor said. “Athletes of his standard who can perform at a high level, that’s their ultimate aim. Every time they get on the blocks, that’s what they want to do. So I have no doubts that’s what he’s looking for.”