Kyle Chalmers on Paris 2024: "A gold medal sandwich would be very special"

Kyle Chalmers is hungry.

Having won gold in the 100m freestyle at Rio 2016 the assumption could be that his swimming appetite is satisfied, and it's time to take it easy. Think again.

The 'Big Tuna' is more motivated than ever after winning the silver medal at Tokyo 2020, finishing a miniscule 0.06 seconds behind the winner and his long-time rival Caeleb Dressel.

The world-record holder in the 100m freestyle recently sat down with SwimSwam to discuss his laser-focused concentration on getting back to the top of the podium in Paris, his recuperation from multiple shoulder surgeries and much more.

Time for hard reset

"For me my biggest goal and what I’m working towards is Paris," Chalmers said. "Paris is what I want to win, so for me if I have this break and time off now, I know I’m going to be successful in Paris. It’s the perfect time and opportunity to unwind and have a real hard reset."

The reset Chalmers refers to is a necessity for the 23-year-old after an overwhelming last couple of years that included two shoulder surgeries, Tokyo 2020 being moved to 2021 and breaking a world record.

"There’s been so many different challenges thrown at me," he said. "As a swimmer and athlete you bottle everything up and never really work through it in that period of time. You push it aside to focus on that end goal, which is the Olympic Games. I went straight from there to Europe to race for six months.

"I’m just having a little time out now. I’ve been home to the country and done some fishing with my cousins and seen my grandparents I hadn’t seen for a long time.

"For me it’s about having a little more of a relaxed year to get my shoulders and body and mind completely right and start that real massive push for Paris and hopefully my body responds quite well and gives me two years of preparation this time around."

Gold medal sandwich

Chalmers detailed his recuperation for his shoulders and how he noticed a real, positive difference in them having two weeks off recently. His focus nowadays is to "switch off", so that he can be totally prepared mentally and physically as the build-up to Paris 2024 gets closer. And his next revelation will probably be terrifying for his fellow competitors.

"My best years of swimming are still definitely ahead of me," he revealed.

Chalmers will continue to train with his long-time coach and mentor Peter Bishop in the lead-up to the Games in 2024 and as he concluded he summed up where his motivation comes from.

"The vision of having a gold medal sandwich would be very special. The biggest thing for me is that I lost by .06 of a second. That’s all the motivation and determination that I need to come back and do it all again. To lose by just my reaction time off the blocks motivates me more than anything to be back there and win that gold medal sandwich. The fire in the belly is definitely stronger than it’s ever been."