At the 25th SASI Awards ceremony, performances from athletes across a spectrum of sporting disciplines, including cycling, swimming and rowing, spanning all of 2015 were honored at the celebratory event held today, November 19th. Among the prestigious awards given, newly-minted adidas Swim athlete, Kyle Chalmers from Marion Swim Club in Adelaide, has been recognized with the South Australia Sports Institute’s (SASI) ‘Male Junior Athlete of the Year’ Award.
17-year-old Chalmers had quite the summer, participating in both the FINA Junior and Senior World Championships, making a name for himself at each. While competing in Singapore at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, Chalmers earned 3 gold medals, including two individual golds in the 50m and 100m freestyle races, as well as the top prize as part of his squad’s 400m freestyle relay.
In Kazan, Chalmers swam in the heats of both Australia’s 400m freestyle and 400m medley relays, earning a silver as part of the medley squad with the 2nd-fastest anchor split of the entire prelims field.
As the night’s first male award recipient, Chalmers accepted his honor from abroad, having been in Germany the past several days in relation to his new adidas Swim sponsorship.
Kyle Chalmers remotely accepting his SASI ‘Male Junior Athlete of the Year’ Award, courtesy of SASI Facebook
Shelly Jarrett, National Squads Head Coach at Marion Swim Club, earned ‘Coach of the Year’ honors as well. Jarrett is on staff at the SASI program, a framework aimed at having selected athletes achieve national team representation and subsequently contributing to Swimming Australia’s podium success. Chalmers is one of four athletes on full scholarship in the SASI program.
Congratulations to Shelly Jarrett & Kyle Chalmers who tonight at the SASI Awards dinner won the Coach of the Year and Junior Athlete of the Year Awards for 2015.
Posted by Swimming SA on Thursday, November 19, 2015