Just weeks after taking silver in the men’s 100m freestyle at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, 21-year-old Kyle Chalmers of Australia is undergoing another heart surgery to address his condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT).
The symptoms of this heart condition, from which American breaststroking icon Rebecca Soni, as well as Aussie freestyle ace Jack Cartwright also suffers, include rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, a pounding sensation in the neck and fainting. (Mayo Clinic)
“3rd time lucky 🙏 fingers crossed today’s heart surgery fixed the problem once and for all. Thanks again everyone for the love and support,” is what Chalmers posted on Instagram today, August 26th.
Chalmers underwent surgery in 2017, which kept him out of that year’s World Championships and made his racing return at that year’s South Australian Division I meet.
It didn’t take long for the freestyling dynamo to bring his performances back up to speed, reaping 4 golds at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He followed that up by taking 3 national titles at this year’s Australian National Championships and topped off his season with 4 medals, including the aforementioned 100m freestyle silver, in Gwangju at the 2019 World Championships.
It’s not known how long Chalmers will be out of the pool or if there will be any after-effects heading into Tokyo. But if his rebound from previous surgeries is any indication, Chalmers will be back to his speedy ways in no time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1n59LDBoev/
Can SwimSwam reach out to Emily Seebohm? Appears she has moved to Griffith University Swim Club but not confirmed.
hasn’t transferred officially yet. certainly training there. renewals due end of this month…so wait and see
Is there any indication his condition affected his performances at the WC’s? It might account for some uneven performances. He was erratic in the 100FS but when the big moment came in the final he pulled out a PB and almost got Dressel. In the 200FS he was disappointing. In the 4X200 although Australia won the gold medal his split was the slowest in the team.
Damn. Nearly beat Dressel with a bad heart. Kind of like Titmus beating Ledecky.
3rd time?! Can he have confidence in the diagnosis or surgeons at this point?
They are burning an abnormal electrical pathway in his heart. Often times the pathway comes back… and it’s very difficult to get it all. Ebpven the best electrophysiologists have repeat patients, it can be very complicated and tricky.
Get well King Kyle.
Dude’s coming home in 22 next summer with the extra pump!!
Damn…
In 2017 I think it took maybe 18 months for him to be at the level he showed in Rio16. This is very unfortunate because after Gwangju he was the only one who could stop Dressel. I’m a fan of both of them and I tough we would get 2 guys under the WR in 100fr. I can see dressel winning easly now. I hope chalmers at least gets a medal so that is motivated enough to stick at least until Paris24
The battle between them at the WC was so highly anticipated, and lived up to the hype..it would be sad for them and swimming if we didn’t get a repeat next year.
I get a feeling he will be back soon….