Latest news with #KyleChalmers
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Kyle Chalmers hopes Enhanced Games leads to improvement in prize money for clean swimmers
– Kyle Chalmers won't criticise fellow swimmers for taking part in the Enhanced Games, but the Australian hopes the proposed multi-sport event prompts World Aquatics to increase prize money for clean athletes. The Enhanced Games will allow athletes to use pharmacological or technological assistance, including substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Retired Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen, 34, in February 2024 agreed to take performance-enhancing drugs to make an attempt at beating Cesar Cielo's 15-year-old 50-metre freestyle world record. The Enhanced Games concept has been met with widespread criticism, with World Aquatics introducing a new bylaw that will prevent any athlete or official who supports or endorses doping from competing or holding any positions after a Greek swimmer supported by the Enhanced Games 'broke' the world record. 'James is one of my really great mates, so I'm definitely not going to knock him for going across there,' Chalmers was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press on June 8, ahead of Australian trials in Adelaide. 'That is something that is hard in our sport, there's not a huge amount of money or prize money on offer and we kind of do it for the love of it. So I am not going to be a person that slams swimmers for wanting to go across and make some money and give themselves a better opportunity in life or set their families up...' The Enhanced Games will hold their inaugural competition in Las Vegas in May 2026 with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda. Participants could earn prize money totalling up to US$500,000 (S$642,580) per event plus bonuses for surpassing a world record mark. 'Swimmers have been underpaid for a very long time at the big competitions,' the 26-year-old said. 'I'm very lucky to have a lot of personal sponsors so I do OK for myself, which is nice. But I know that there's a lot of swimmers out there that really struggle... So I really hope that there is a shift, that we are able to get a little bit more prize money for what we do, but I guess we'll see.' Over at the Canadian Swimming Trials, Summer McIntosh stormed to victory in the women's 800m freestyle on June 8, firing another warning shot to Katie Ledecky after narrowly missing out on breaking the American's world record. A day after obliterating the 400m freestyle world record, McIntosh touched in 8min 5.07sec in the 800m, putting her just outside US great Ledecky's world best of 8:04.12 set only in May. 'Going into tonight, I really wanted to see how close I could get to that world record,' the three-time Olympic gold medallist said after her win at the trials in Victoria, British Columbia. 'But, overall, pretty happy with my race and my splits. I was a little bit in no man's land. So I'm happy excited for just moving forward and seeing how I can be pushed when I get some close-quarter racing.' McIntosh won gold in the 200m butterfly, 200m medley and 400m medley at the Paris Olympics and has indicated she'll chase five titles at the world championships in Singapore in July. On Saturday, she shattered the 400m free world record with a time of 3:54.18, slicing more than a second of the record set in 2023 by Australian Ariarne Titmus, who is taking the 2025 season off. The blistering form of McIntosh and Ledecky sets the stage for a titantic duel at the world championships and the Canadian admitted she was relishing the prospect. 'Any time I get to race Katie, it's an honour. I always have to bring my best to be able to challenge her,' McIntosh said on June 8. 'So I'm really excited for our match-ups at the worlds. This is my starting point now and I just try to keep pushing forward.' REUTERS, AFP Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
The Advertiser
20 hours ago
- Sport
- The Advertiser
Aussie swim star says risky gamble will reap rewards
Six months after thinking he'd never race again, Kyle Chalmers is taking the biggest gamble of his fabled swimming career. And the risk is already being rewarded to the extent Chalmers has put the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on his agenda. Last December, the champion freestyler was retiring. "I had my Christmas break and honestly I thought I wouldn't come back after Christmas," Chalmers said on Sunday. The 26-year-old had just found out his fiancee, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning, was pregnant. "I didn't really know how that was going to go with swimming," he said. Chalmers and Loyning, based in Adelaide, had created a swim academy serving clients in person and online. "The only reason I got back in the pool was because we had some Japanese swimmers coming to train with us and also Matt Wilson was coming from NSW to train with me for a few days," he said. "So I felt I owed it to them to be at training because they had come to train with me. "And then I came back and just absolutely loved it. "I'm not associated with ... a high performance program. I'm there with people that are paying to be there, they love swimming." Chalmers shelved retirement and, with Adelaide-based sports physiologist Jamie Stanley, took a gamble. They changed the training program that propelled Chalmers to the pinnacle in a career reaping nine Olympic and 12 world championship medals. Chalmers has halved his training distance in the water in favour of cycling and running. "It's a bit of a gamble changing what I know works," he said. "I have done the same thing for the last 13 years so to actually change so much is a bit of a risk. "It's not about training harder, it's about training smarter ... it's very different to what anyone else is doing because it's based around two other sports that are very different to swimming." The first test of Chalmers' new regime came in April when he raced in Norway. The result stunned the man who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle at the past three Olympics. Chalmers clocked 47.27 seconds in his pet event in Norway - his fourth-fastest time ever and quickest outside of major meets. He followed with a personal best, 21.78, in the 50m freestyle. A week later in Sweden, he set a PB in the 50m butterfly, 22.89. "It was a massive shock for me," Chalmers said. "It's nice to be swimming personal best times at almost 27-years-old." Chalmers, who turns 27 on June 25, will race at Australia's world championship selection trials in Adelaide starting Monday. He's bidding to make his fifth world championship team for the July 27-August 3 titles in Singapore. Chalmers also wants to become the first man to win 100m freestyle medals at four consecutive Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. "LA is a massive target of mine," he said. "But Brisbane (in 2032) might even be a possibility." Six months after thinking he'd never race again, Kyle Chalmers is taking the biggest gamble of his fabled swimming career. And the risk is already being rewarded to the extent Chalmers has put the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on his agenda. Last December, the champion freestyler was retiring. "I had my Christmas break and honestly I thought I wouldn't come back after Christmas," Chalmers said on Sunday. The 26-year-old had just found out his fiancee, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning, was pregnant. "I didn't really know how that was going to go with swimming," he said. Chalmers and Loyning, based in Adelaide, had created a swim academy serving clients in person and online. "The only reason I got back in the pool was because we had some Japanese swimmers coming to train with us and also Matt Wilson was coming from NSW to train with me for a few days," he said. "So I felt I owed it to them to be at training because they had come to train with me. "And then I came back and just absolutely loved it. "I'm not associated with ... a high performance program. I'm there with people that are paying to be there, they love swimming." Chalmers shelved retirement and, with Adelaide-based sports physiologist Jamie Stanley, took a gamble. They changed the training program that propelled Chalmers to the pinnacle in a career reaping nine Olympic and 12 world championship medals. Chalmers has halved his training distance in the water in favour of cycling and running. "It's a bit of a gamble changing what I know works," he said. "I have done the same thing for the last 13 years so to actually change so much is a bit of a risk. "It's not about training harder, it's about training smarter ... it's very different to what anyone else is doing because it's based around two other sports that are very different to swimming." The first test of Chalmers' new regime came in April when he raced in Norway. The result stunned the man who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle at the past three Olympics. Chalmers clocked 47.27 seconds in his pet event in Norway - his fourth-fastest time ever and quickest outside of major meets. He followed with a personal best, 21.78, in the 50m freestyle. A week later in Sweden, he set a PB in the 50m butterfly, 22.89. "It was a massive shock for me," Chalmers said. "It's nice to be swimming personal best times at almost 27-years-old." Chalmers, who turns 27 on June 25, will race at Australia's world championship selection trials in Adelaide starting Monday. He's bidding to make his fifth world championship team for the July 27-August 3 titles in Singapore. Chalmers also wants to become the first man to win 100m freestyle medals at four consecutive Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. "LA is a massive target of mine," he said. "But Brisbane (in 2032) might even be a possibility." Six months after thinking he'd never race again, Kyle Chalmers is taking the biggest gamble of his fabled swimming career. And the risk is already being rewarded to the extent Chalmers has put the Brisbane 2032 Olympics on his agenda. Last December, the champion freestyler was retiring. "I had my Christmas break and honestly I thought I wouldn't come back after Christmas," Chalmers said on Sunday. The 26-year-old had just found out his fiancee, Norwegian swimmer Ingeborg Loyning, was pregnant. "I didn't really know how that was going to go with swimming," he said. Chalmers and Loyning, based in Adelaide, had created a swim academy serving clients in person and online. "The only reason I got back in the pool was because we had some Japanese swimmers coming to train with us and also Matt Wilson was coming from NSW to train with me for a few days," he said. "So I felt I owed it to them to be at training because they had come to train with me. "And then I came back and just absolutely loved it. "I'm not associated with ... a high performance program. I'm there with people that are paying to be there, they love swimming." Chalmers shelved retirement and, with Adelaide-based sports physiologist Jamie Stanley, took a gamble. They changed the training program that propelled Chalmers to the pinnacle in a career reaping nine Olympic and 12 world championship medals. Chalmers has halved his training distance in the water in favour of cycling and running. "It's a bit of a gamble changing what I know works," he said. "I have done the same thing for the last 13 years so to actually change so much is a bit of a risk. "It's not about training harder, it's about training smarter ... it's very different to what anyone else is doing because it's based around two other sports that are very different to swimming." The first test of Chalmers' new regime came in April when he raced in Norway. The result stunned the man who has won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 100m freestyle at the past three Olympics. Chalmers clocked 47.27 seconds in his pet event in Norway - his fourth-fastest time ever and quickest outside of major meets. He followed with a personal best, 21.78, in the 50m freestyle. A week later in Sweden, he set a PB in the 50m butterfly, 22.89. "It was a massive shock for me," Chalmers said. "It's nice to be swimming personal best times at almost 27-years-old." Chalmers, who turns 27 on June 25, will race at Australia's world championship selection trials in Adelaide starting Monday. He's bidding to make his fifth world championship team for the July 27-August 3 titles in Singapore. Chalmers also wants to become the first man to win 100m freestyle medals at four consecutive Olympics at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. "LA is a massive target of mine," he said. "But Brisbane (in 2032) might even be a possibility."
The Star
a day ago
- Sport
- The Star
Swimming-Chalmers hopes Enhanced Games leads to improvement in prize money for clean swimmers
FILE PHOTO: Paris 2024 Olympics - Swimming - Men's 100m Freestyle Victory Ceremony - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - July 31, 2024. Silver medallist Kyle Chalmers of Australia celebrates on the podium. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File photo (Reuters) -Kyle Chalmers won't criticise fellow swimmers for taking part in the Enhanced Games, but the Australian hopes the proposed multi-sport event prompts World Aquatics to increase prize money for clean athletes. The Enhanced Games will allow athletes to use pharmacological or technological assistance, including substances banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Retired Australian world champion swimmer James Magnussen, 34, in February last year agreed to take performance-enhancing drugs to make an attempt at beating Cesar Cielo's 15-year-old 50-metre freestyle world record. The Enhanced Games concept has been met with widespread criticism, with World Aquatics introducing a new bylaw that will prevent any athlete or official who supports or endorses doping from competing or holding any positions after a Greek swimmer supported by the Enhanced Games 'broke' the world record. "James is one of my really great mates so I'm definitely not going to knock him for going across there," Chalmers was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press on Sunday. "That is something that is hard in our sport, there's not a huge amount of money or prize money on offer and we kind of do it for the love of it. "So I am not going to be a person that slams swimmers for wanting to go across and make some money and give themselves a better opportunity in life or set their families up..." The Enhanced Games will hold their inaugural competition in Las Vegas in May next year with swimming, athletics and weightlifting on the agenda. Participants could earn prize money totalling up to $500,000 per event plus bonuses for surpassing a world record mark. "Swimmers have been underpaid for a very long time at the big competitions," the 26-year-old said. "I'm very lucky to have a lot of personal sponsors so I do OK for myself, which is nice. But I know that there's a lot of swimmers out there that really struggle... "So I really hope that there is a shift, that we are able to get a little bit more prize money for what we do, but I guess we'll see." (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Michael Perry)
9 News
a day ago
- Sport
- 9 News
Kyle Chalmers eyeing Brisbane Olympic swansong
Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers is preparing for his fifth world championships, with an eye on a home farewell at Brisbane 2032.
The Age
a day ago
- Sport
- The Age
Kyle Chalmers eyeing Brisbane Olympic swansong
Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers is preparing for his fifth world championships, with an eye on a home farewell at Brisbane 2032. Loading
