HE’S the Olympic champion but Kyle Chalmers says the national title he won to qualify for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games means every bit as much as the gold medal he brought home from Rio.
Chalmers and Jack Cartwright scraped into the 100 metre freestyle final with the equal seventh-ranked time of 49.17 in the morning heats but the teens pounced last night, relegating Cameron McEvoy to third and pushing dual world champion James Magnussen out of an individual Commonwealth Games swim.
It’s a situation Chalmers admitted left him rattled.
“Going in as the Olympic champion, the pressure was on me,” he said.
“I definitely felt the pressure tonight but I embraced it and I used it to my advantage because I knew I needed it to get myself up.
“It’s very satisfying.
“Honestly, it probably means just as much to me to win (here) as winning the Olympic medal because it’s been a rough couple of years since Rio and I’m just glad that I’m back here and I’m able to prove to myself that I can do it and I’m not that one-hit wonder.”
Biloela product Cartwright won his way onto the team with the most courageous of swims after his meet looked over when he suffered heart palpitations during his 200m freestyle final on Wednesday night.
Cartwright was put on a drip on pool deck and taken to hospital, with the same heart condition, Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT), that forced Chalmers into surgery after his Rio gold.
“I got the all clear to swim just a few hours before the final. I’m rapt,” Cartwright said.
“I’ll see a specialist next week but I’m going to be swimming at the Games … for sure.”
McEvoy was third, ensuring he should pick up an individual swim at his home Games.
A Games ambassador and virtual face of the event as a born and bred Gold Coaster, there was plenty of pressure on the 23-year-old to produce in the 100m.
And Chalmers was thrilled to see his mate perform.
“I’m so happy that Cam got in third position as well, that means he’s there for a relay swim and hopefully gets that individual as well,” Chalmers said.
Earlier, Cate Campbell put any doubt her post-Olympic sabbatical would have lingering effects behind her, winning the 100m in 52.37sec to equal the world-leading time she set to win the NSW state championship in January.
Campbell said she had genuine nerves about making the team.
“I’m just so relieved to be on the team. You can never take these things for granted,” she said.
“You know everyone says you are a sure thing but I was a sure thing to win an Olympic gold medal as well and look what happened there.
“It’s hard to stand up and perform when it really counts and I’m proud I did tonight.”
Campbell said she had no different mentality on the blocks despite the pressure of the situation.
“I think time away from pool has given me a little more perspective and made me more relaxed for racing,” she said.
“I know now I can do other things outside the swimming pool, and enjoy things outside the pool.”
Campbell finished just ahead of sister Bronte (52.96) and Emma McKeon (53.49), with Bronte inching back to the form that saw her win a world title in 2015 after a rare injury-free preparation.
Ariarne Titmus won the 400m freestyle in 4:02.36, to slice half a second from the Australian record she set at the Queensland state titles in December.
While she was relatively pleased to notch a new mark, Titmus went out hard, chasing the 4min barrier and was disappointed she was not closer.
“I thought I probably had another second off the time to be honest, that was what I was aiming for,” she said.
“But at least it means I have something to work on.
“It’s better being that way than seeing a fast time and thinking: ‘how am I going to improve?’.”
