18-year-old sprinter Kyle Chalmers wowed the world in Rio, claiming gold in men’s 100m freestyle over an enormously talented field. The Australian hasn’t stopped his speed siege, as he snagged the 200m freestyle victory and 100m freestyle silver at the FINA World Cup in Singapore last week. In the latter race, Chalmers even notched a new World Junior Record (46.61).
With such a talented young stud just getting started in his international elite career, it’s understandable how several swim clubs, based both home and abroad, would be trying to attract Chalmers for his next quadrennial training grounds.
Included in the clubs reportedly courting the Adelaide, South Australia native was Bond University, home of the fastest 100m freestyler ever in a textile suit, Cameron McEvoy. In our recent report about a super team possibly brewing at Bond, McEvoy said, “I’ve basically spent my entire time with Richard [Scarce] as myself being the only one on the (national) team.”
“I think there’s a few international swimmers that might want to come and trial or come over for a couple of months. There’s a few other ones, I’m not allowed to say – they actually said they’d prefer not to say (who they are) – but there’s a lot of opportunity for our squad to grow over the next few months, which is really good.’’
However, Olympic Champion Chalmers has reportedly declined an offer to join Bond in Queensland. The self-described ‘country boy’ has instead decided to stay put under Coach Peter Bishop as part of Marion Swimming Club’s high performance squad.
One distinct attraction of staying at Marion, is the fact that Chalmers’ facility at which he trains daily is truly top-notch. The SA Aquatic and Leisure Center is a $100m, world-class facility, held in such prestige it hosted the 2016 Australian Olympic Trials.
Chalmers will join his fellow Australians early next month in Brisbane, as the nation’s Short Course National Championships kick off on November 3rd.
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