With two Olympic medals and one Commonwealth Games title under his name, Kyle Chalmers is one of the finest swimmers from Australia. However, despite his outstanding performance at the trials this year the Olympic athlete will not be representing his country. Kyle Chalmers has decided to take a step back from the butterfly event of the swimming championships.
Despite securing a position in the 2023 swimming championship, the Aussie swimmer has decided to not take part in the competition. He will not be competing against US swimmer Caeleb Dressel and would give his entire focus on his swimming expertise, 100m freestyle. The 2023 Swimming Championship is all set to begin next Sunday, 23rd July in Japan.
Kyle Chalmers pulls out of World Championship Butterfly event
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The 25-year-old Olympic medalist Kyle Chalmers will not be participating in the 100-meter butterfly event. The World Championship is set to take place in July in Japan. The Olympic-winning athlete had secured a spot for himself in the 2023 championship at the Australian trials. Chalmers finished the trial race at 51.61 seconds behind the record-holding athlete of the event, Matthew Temple, who touched the wall in 51.35 seconds. And now, one week before the Fakuta swimming championship, Chalmers had a turnaround and decided to pull off the team.
The athlete has decided to focus more on his expertise in the 100m freestyle; the event will also be a Chalmers only individual event. While talking about his passion for 100m freestyle in an exclusive interview with Olympics Chalmers revealed “There’s only been three Australians ever do it in the 100m free, and I’m very lucky to be in that group.”
Last year, Chalmers participated in the 2022 Budapest Championship, securing the 22nd position in the 100-meter butterfly race. And now the athlete is replaced by Shaun Champion, who finished the Australian trials in third place. The swimmer has officially entered the list for the 100-meter butterfly race to be held next Sunday. Furthermore, besides Chalmers’s withdrawal from Championship, the Australian team also received a setback after rising sensation Mollie O’Callaghan’s injury scare before the world championship. The Australian swimmer twisted her kneecap while training for the event.
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Mollie O’Callaghan’s championship participation not confirmed yet
Last month, Mollie O’Callaghan, the fastest swimmer of the season, suffered a knee injury. According to the Budapest Champion, she “tweaked” her kneecap while training in the water. The 19-year-old swimmer is currently trying her best to not aggravate the injury to make sure she can participate in the Championship this year. In an interview, the Australian coach, Rohan Taylor, updated on the Olympic champion’s injury as he stated, “It’s all looking good for being at worlds, and nothing is saying she’s not going to be there.”
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With Kyle Chalmers not going in for the international competition and following his passion, the Fakuta Championship has been a rollercoaster ride for the Australian swim team. Hopefully, Callaghan will also recover from the injury soon and join Matthew Temple in bringing a win for Australia.
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