2024 AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS
After booking his ticket to a third Olympic team earlier in the meet, Kyle Chalmers chose to forgo the men’s 100 butterfly on the final day of the 2024 Australian Olympic Trials.
Chalmers was coming in as the #3 seed, but the combination of dealing with a back injury and a reported illness all week kept him on the sidelines of the event which he’s put more of a focus on in the last two or three years.
Kyle Chalmers has pulled out of today’s 100m butterfly – he’s been battling illness this week, as well as a back problem, so he’s prioritising getting healthy for the Olympics.
— Nicole Jeffery (@nicolejeffery) June 15, 2024
The 25-year-old said a few weeks ago, he took an entire day off which resulted in his back “locking up”, something that’s still been hampering through the Trials this week.
“I just spent the day laying on the couch, which my body is clearly not used to,” Chalmers said, according to Yahoo. “It got pretty stiff and then the Saturday morning, I tried to do a dive and it just all spasmed and locked up.
“I saw physios and doctors and the best thing I could do was to get four cortisones in my lower back and try to get moving again. I am just grateful to be here racing and be back on the mend.
“I know that I can get it right in six weeks’ time (for the Olympics). I have put on a pretty brave face to be able to get through but it has definitely been quite challenging.”
On Thursday, Chalmers punched his ticket to Paris in the men’s 100 free, winning the final in a time of 47.75.
In his absence in Saturday morning’s 100 fly prelims, Matt Temple grabbed the top seed in a time of 51.46, with Ben Armbruster a close second at 51.57.
Chalmers set his best time of 51.61 at last year’s Australian Trials.
