Article by Julian Linden and Owen Leonard courtesy of The Australian.
LONG live the King.
If Kyle Chalmers ever thinks about quitting swimming early again, then the whole of Australia needs to beg him to stay.
The Dolphins have produced a stack of legendary male freestyle sprinters over the years, but Chalmers deserves to be listed at the very top now.
Stop the fight. There is just no argument any more.
An Olympic champion as a teenager. The Commonwealth champion this year. The short-course world record-holder. And now the shortcourse world champion.
Only the long-course world title has eluded him, but it’s almost irrelevant because it’s not just the bucketload of medals that he’s won that makes the Big Tuna the fastest fish on the sea.
It’s the way he puts everything on the line when she swims for his country and his teammates.
He’s shown that plenty of times in his individual events over the years but it’s when he’s in relays that he really shows his true colours.
The ultimate team player, he sacrificed his chance of winning the individual 200m freestyle at the short-course world championship in Melbourne to save every ounce of energy for the 4x100m medley relay.
And he delivered in spades – unleashing a performance for the ages – to win a record 13th gold medal for Australia.
When Chalmers dived in to swim the anchor leg, the Aussies were in third place.
Isaac Cooper, Josh Young and Matt Temple had all swum brilliantly to give Chalmers a shot at getting the team on the podium but he was too far behind the Americans and the Italians to challenge for the gold.
At least that’s what everyone thought. But not Chalmers.
He completed his 100m leg in an astonishing split time off 44.63 seconds, almost a second faster than anyone else, to dead-heat for first place with the Americans – with both teams breaking the world record.
The gold medal was Australia’s 13th of the championships – matching the Dolphins’ record for the most at any world championships – whether long or short-course.
And though he was quick to pay tribute to his teammates, it was all down to Chalmers.
“I’m just the guy that carries us home,” Chalmers said.
“I’m confident every time I dive into the pool, I believe I can win. I train so hard to be there and be in those positions and I love chasing.
“To be part of the relays, watching in the marshalling room, motivates me and helps me reach an extra level. I knew we could do something special.”
Isaac Cooper said Chalmers helped him bounce back from being robbed of gold earlier in the week and deserved the credit for the relay triumph.
“While he’s giving his success to all the other athletes … he’s brought us home every week. He loves racing for the team and racing for Australia beside his best mates.”
