Australian athletes returned from Paris last month with their greatest ever gold medal haul. With an achievement like that, you would usually expect a nation’s production of world-class athletes to be peaking, but by all metrics, Australia is only just getting started.

The swim team is at its strongest in more than 70 years. Track and field is no longer a weak point. The addition of urban sports like skateboarding, surfing and BMX riding has only boosted our medal opportunities. And now more than ever, Australian basketballers and footballers are joining the big-money overseas leagues. Let’s not forget, Brisbane is also hosting the 2032 Olympics, and you don’t need us to tell you that countries typically ramp up their performances when playing host.

Yes, it looks like Australia’s next sporting golden age is truly upon us. But let’s not forget, we now have a four year wait until the next summer Olympics, and an eight year wait for Brisbane 2032. Most of the future gold medal winners haven’t quite announced themselves yet, but we’ve still taken notice. These are the 23 Australian athletes under the age of 23 with the brightest futures.

Flynn Southam

INSTAGRAM | @flynn_southam

Sport: Swimming

He largely laid in waiting in Paris, but assuredly, Flynn Southam was there amongst the illustrious Australian swim team – and he picked up a pair of medals at only 19 years of age. Southam was part of the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay teams that won silver and bronze in Paris. He didn’t qualify for any individual events as he was buried behind some world class competition at the Australian swimming trials, but it won’t be long before the 19-year-old overtakes his rivals. Southam became the junior world champion in the 200m freestyle in 2023 – an accomplishment that usually heralds a future of Olympic success.

Nestory Irankunda

INSTAGRAM | @nestory._

Sport: Football

Australia’s men’s footballing golden generation peaked in the 2000s, but Nestory Irankunda is the most exciting Aussie prospect the nation has produced since. The Adelaide United product was born in Tanzania and in addition to Australia, he’s eligible to represent his country of birth and Burundi – and he still might unless Graham Arnold gets his act together. Irankunda was a class above the A-League, dominating the tier as a teenager. His talents were enough to secure him a move to Germany with Bayern Munich, where he’s scored two goals in two games for the side’s second team. Irankunda made his debut for the Socceroos earlier this year and at 18 years old, is the team’s second youngest ever goalscorer.

Torrie Lewis

INSTAGRAM | @_torrielewis_

Sport: Athletics

It’s rare that a 19-year-old will hold a national record in the 100-metre sprint, but then again, Australia doesn’t have the most star-studded history in the event. Nevertheless, Torrie Lewis’ time of 11.10 seconds is the fastest ever recorded by an Australian woman, and you’d have to think she’s going to continue to break that record as her talent progresses. Lewis drew international attention earlier this year when she won a 200-metre race in the Diamond League, defeating track stars like Sha’Carri Richardson to do it.

Mary Fowler

Sport: Football

She’s already been a household name for quite some time now, but we expect Mary Fowler’s star to continue to rise as she gains more experience and establishes herself as the face of the Matildas. Still only 21, Fowler has already made more than 50 appearances for the national team and tallied 15 goals. A natural playmaker, she possesses supreme field vision and a precision strike. It won’t be long before Fowler cements herself as one of the world’s best.

Gout Gout

 

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Sport: Athletics

By now, we’ve all seen that viral video of 16-year-old Gout Gout blitzing his opponents at the Queensland athletics championships, right? In case you missed it, Gout won the race by a wide margin and he’s already being touted as Australia’s first great sprinter in quite some time. His 100m personal best of 10.29 seconds is only half a second off Noah Lyles’ gold medal-winning time, and Gout is only 16. He’ll only get faster.

Jade Melbourne

INSTAGRAM | @jade.melbourne

Sport: Basketball

Since losing Lauren Jackson to retirement multiple times and gaining her back multiple times, while also sending Liz Cambage to the bleachers, the Opals have been searching for their new identity. But after a bronze medal-winning performance in Paris – the team’s first medal since London 2012 – it appears they’ve found it, and it revolves around point guard Jade Melbourne. A capable shooter, passer and two-way player, Melbourne has few weaknesses to her game. Having just turned 22, she still has room to grow and will have hit her prime by LA 2028.

Peyton Craig

INSTAGRAM | @peytoncraig_

Sport: Athletics

Peyton Craig burst onto the scene in Paris by finishing third in his 800m heat to progress straight into the semifinals. There, he could only manage a sixth-placed finish, but his time would’ve been fast enough to win either of the other two semifinals. Still only 19, Craig will have a shot at a junior world title when he races at the under-20 athletics world championships this month.

Mollie O’Callaghan

Sport: Swimming

An athlete who needs no introduction, it’s hard to believe that Mollie O’Callaghan is still only 20. She already has eight Olympic medals under her belt – five of which are gold – and she upset Ariarne Titmus in the 200m freestyle to win gold in what will long be remembered as one of the best Olympic races we’ve ever seen. The sky truly is the limit for O’Callaghan, who will only be 28 during Brisbane 2032. Becoming Australia’s all-time leading medallist seems inevitable.

Josh Giddey

INSTAGRAM | @australianboomers

Sport: Basketball

Despite a much-written about off-court debacle and a disappointing third NBA season that ultimately saw him traded to the Chicago Bulls, Josh Giddey remains the most exciting basketball prospect Australia has produced in some time – with the possible exception of Ben Simmons, but we all know how that’s going. Giddey established himself as the focal point of the Boomers’ offence in Paris with his elite passing, improved shooting and ability to create with the ball in his hands. At 21, he’ll be the face of the Boomers for years to come, with an almost entirely new supporting cast from LA 2028 onwards.

Molly Picklum

INSTAGRAM | @picklummolly

Sport: Surfing

At 21 years of age, Molly Picklum is already one of the world’s best surfers. She’s won two championship events on the WSL tour (both at Sunset Beach in Hawaii) and she’s just qualified for the WSL finals for the second consecutive year. Women’s surfing’s next generation is currently in the midst of unseating the old one, with seven of the top nine surfers in the current WSL rankings aged 24 or younger, while the entire top four is under 24. World number one Caitlyn Simmers is also only 18, so if she’s going to win a world championship, Picklum won’t be able to rely on her opponents ageing out of competitiveness.

Dyson Daniels

INSTAGRAM | @australianboomers

Sport: Basketball

The ideal running mate for Josh Giddey on the Boomers, Dyson Daniels had a breakout tournament at the Olympics, establishing himself as a mainstay in the starting lineup. Daniels is a lockdown defender, savvy passer, dynamic inside scorer and has shown flashes of shooting ability. Like Giddey, he’s only 21 and will likely move into a larger role with his new team, the Atlanta Hawks, in the upcoming NBA season.

Olivia Wunsch

INSTAGRAM | @liv.wunsch

Sport: Swimming

Eighteen-year-old swimmer Olivia Wunsch made her Olympic debut in Paris and by swimming in the heats of the 4x100m freestyle relay, she also picked up her first gold medal. She may not be a big name on the senior circuit right now, but Wunsch is already a superstar in junior competition. At the 2023 junior swimming world championships, Wunsch picked up a whopping six medals, with gold in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay and the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay, as well as bronze in the 50m butterfly.

Keegan Palmer

 

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Sport: Skateboarding

A dual-Olympic gold medallist in skateboarding park at just 21 years of age, Keegan Palmer has already reached his sport’s zenith, but he has no intention of letting up. It’s not unreasonable to think that Palmer could remain the only men’s skateboarding park gold medallist for the foreseeable future. He’ll only be 29 years old by Brisbane 2032, and skateboarders often compete well into their 40s.

Rocco Zikarsky

INSTAGRAM | @roccozikarsky

Sport: Basketball

The Boomers have a wealth of oversized, playmaking guards and lengthy, defensive specialist wings, but if the team has one area of weakness, it’s the at the centre position. Jock Landale exceeded expectations in Paris and perhaps Duop Reath will find a bigger role under a new coach, but neither look like they can handle international big men like Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. This is an unusual weak point for Australia, with stars like Luc Longley, Chris Anstey, Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes having filled the role in the past. Thankfully, the next in the nation’s long line of big men will arrive shortly in Rocco Zikarsky. At seven foot three, Zikarksy is a certifiable giant and is projected as a consensus lottery pick in next year’s NBA draft.

Kyra Cooney-Cross

INSTAGRAM | @kyracooneyx

Sport: Football

Kyra Cooney-Cross’ stellar performance at the 2023 FIFA women’s world cup caught the attention of a number of top European teams. Ultimately, she secured a move to Arsenal not long after the world cup and has since become a crucial cog in the team’s midfield. Likewise, she’s already the Matildas’ most important player in the middle of the park and at just 22, she’ll likely continue in that role for at least the next decade.

Lizzy Dekkers

INSTAGRAM | @lizzydekkers

Sport: Swimming

Lizzy Dekkers’ specialty is the 200m butterfly, and she came very close to winning her first Olympic medal in the event in Paris. She wound up in fourth place in the final, but at 20 years of age, she still has plenty of time to improve for LA 2028. Plus, she’s already a world championship silver medallist and Commonwealth games gold medallist in the event.

Arisa Trew

INSTAGRAM | @arisa_trew

Sport: Skateboarding

How could Australia’s youngest ever gold medallist not make this list? The crazy thing about Arisa Trew is that, at just 14, she’ll still be eligible for this list after Brisbane 2032, as she’ll only be 22 by then. We foresee many medals in Trew’s future, as she looks to become a dominant force in skateboarding park.

Johnny Furphy

INSTAGRAM | @johnnyfurphy

Sport: Basketball

Freshly drafted into the NBA by the Indiana Pacers, Johnny Furphy is a wing/forward with good size for his position, a smooth shooting stroke, surprising bounce and solid rebounding skills. He figures into the Boomers’ plans for the future and could be in the starting lineup by LA 2028. At 19, Furphy already looks like he has star potential.

Jaclyn Barclay

INSTAGRAM | @jaclynbarclay

Sport: Swimming

The youngest swimmer in the 2024 Australian Olympic team, Jaclyn Barclay will presumably step into Kaylee McKeown’s role as the nation’s premier backstroke swimmer, if McKeown does ever slow down. Barclay was the gold medallist in the 100m backstroke at last year’s junior world championships despite being only 16 at the time – a full two years younger than some of her competitors. She was the silver medallist in the 200m backstroke at the senior world championships earlier this year and looks like she’ll have Olympic medals in her future.

Calab Law

INSTAGRAM | _calablaw_

Sport: Athletics

It’s not often that Australia has track medallists in international meets, regardless of whether they’re on the senior or junior level, but Calab Law shocked many by winning bronze in the 200-metres at the 2022 under-20 athletics world championships. The time he ran to win that medal remains his personal best two years on, but at 20, Law has flashed enough potential to be considered a future Olympic medal threat.

Tayte Ryan

INSTAGRAM | @tayte_ryan

Sport: Cycling

Tayte Ryan has quite the resume. He’s a three-time junior world champion in the 1km track cycling time trial, an eight-time national champion and four-time Oceania champion – all by the age of 18. Australia has a long history of producing cycling stars and Ryan looks like the obvious choice to be the next one.

Grae Morris

INSTAGRAM | @grae.morris

Sport: Sailing

A medal that flew slightly under the radar in Paris was Grae Morris’ silver in men’s windsurfing. Morris finished first overall in the 13-race preliminary round but narrowly missed out on gold in the final. He’s only 20 and has already come close to the top of the Olympic podium, he’ll be back for another shot at future Olympics.

Delta Amidzovski

INSTAGRAM | @delta.amidzovski

Sport: Athletics

Breaking news out of Peru this morning, Delta Amidzovski has just become a junior world champion in long jump. Australia has won four Olympic medals in long jump – all of them silver and all of them won by men – and Amidzovski has now proven she has the potential to add more to that tally.

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The post 23 under 23: the young Australian athletes who will dominate LA 2028 and beyond appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Knowles is Australia’s joint-most decorated wheelchair basketballer of all time, with three Paralympic medals – one of them gold – and two world championship victories to his name. During his tenure with the team, the Rollers have gone from an outfit of perennial nearly-men who had only medalled once in Paralympic history to a formidable unit that’s always contending for top honours and is recognised as one of the best teams in the world.

At 41, Knowles has been a consistent member of the national squad for more than 20 years, but he’s been hesitant to consider retirement in the past. “I love competing, but honestly, if I had quit sometime over the last few years, I couldn’t have said that I was leaving the team in a better condition than when I joined,” he tells Men’s Health. That’s not the case anymore.

Heading into Paris, Knowles believes the Rollers are a strong chance of claiming their first Paralympic medal in 12 years. “I haven’t been this confident in the team winning a gold medal in a long time. I truly believe that our strategy and blueprint can take us all the way to gold.”

Knowles is confident, without being cocky – and don’t mistake his faith in his team with arrogance. Like many in his sport, Knowles has experienced highs and lows. He’s won gold medal games, but he’s also lost them. Although, his experience with both sides of the coin isn’t isolated to the court. Knowles’ life has been a battle of highs and lows. It’s those experiences, he believes, that have honed his mindset into what it is today and given him what it takes to overcome adversity and be confident in the face of overwhelming odds.

INSTAGRAM | @tristanknowles09

“Growing up, I was a very active kid whose thoughts were consumed by a dream of captaining [AFL team] Hawthorn to a premiership, Aussie Rules was my passion,” says Knowles of his relationship with sport before his life was changed forever when he was nine years old. “One day, my left leg began to get sore just above the knee and at first, a GP put it down to a common growing pain. After a couple months it wasn’t getting any better, so I went and got an X-ray done.”

The next day, Knowles was informed that he had bone cancer in his left leg, and that the limb would need to be amputated above the knee, turning his life on its head. “It was a scary thing to go through at such a young age, and it ended up being something which challenged me for most of my teenage years,” Knowles says. “My immune system was virtually at zero for the first 12 months after, so I couldn’t even risk getting a cold. It meant a lot of time away from school, friends and playing any sort of sport.”

Knowles was on the road to recovery, enduring years of therapy and medical examinations before finally, during his last quarterly check-up, he was told that doctors had found cancer in his lungs. “It was terrifying because, from getting to know some of the other kids in my situation who had brain or lung cancer, I learned that those were the kids who usually didn’t make it,” he says. “I think that was probably the first time in my cancer journey that I allowed this really, really scary thought to enter my head that I wasn’t going to make it and that I might die at 11 years old.”

This was a turning point in Knowles’ life. Obviously, a cancer diagnosis is always life-changing, but it was in these moments that Knowles’ mindset was built, thanks to a little white lie. “I asked the doctor what my chances of surviving were and he said ‘50-50’. Later, my parents revealed to me that my actual chances of survival were around 5 per cent,” he says. “That had a profound impact on me. It showed me the importance of mindset when approaching a situation of adversity and it helped me maintain hope in a difficult time.”

After beating cancer, Knowles began another battle: getting back into sport. “I had a strange feeling after beating cancer the second time that the battle still wasn’t won,” he recalls. “I still had those dreams of being an AFL player, but obviously that had all been turned on its head. It left me with a feeling of emptiness.”

Knowles spent the next few years searching for the sport that was right for him, which was no easy task. “I’d tried what felt like every other sport under the sun and I just couldn’t find anything that I liked,” he says. Eventually, he discovered wheelchair basketball and from there, he never looked back. “I didn’t cross paths with wheelchair basketball until I was about 15, but I loved it straight away. It has a lot of similar elements to Aussie Rules, it’s fast, physical and it’s a team sport. I very quickly fell in love with the sport and started to form some pretty big goals around what I wanted to achieve.”

Those goals that Knowles speaks of didn’t take long to manifest into a plan of action. He became “obsessed with making the national team” and at 18 years of age, moved to Wollongong from Canberra to join and train with a wheelchair basketball team. At that time, Knowles was studying at university, training whenever he could and saving his particularly tough sessions for the weekend. It didn’t take long for his hard work to pay off.

Knowles received his first call up to the national team when he was only 18. A few short years later, he was heading off to his first Paralympics in Athens. There, Australia improved upon its previous campaign where the team finished fifth, but fell painfully short of ultimate victory, falling to Canada in the decisive gold medal game.

That defeat stuck with Knowles. “I feel like every athlete says this, but we didn’t feel like we won silver, we felt like we lost gold.” The near miss brought about a reckoning, a thorough questioning of the Rollers’ strengths and weaknesses where each member of the squad contemplated what they could do to improve and how they could finish atop the podium at the next Paralympics. “We made a commitment to each other to come back stronger,” Knowles says.

INSTAGRAM | @tristanknowles09

Four years later, the Rollers went into the 2008 Beijing Paralympics with a single goal in mind: win a gold medal. After progressing through a five-game group stage and two knockout games, the Rollers were presented with a familiar foe in the gold-medal match. The same Canadian team that crushed their dreams four years earlier now stood in their way once again.

At the time, Canada was inarguably considered the best wheelchair basketball team in the world. Since winning gold at the previous Paralympics, the Canadians had also won the 2006 world championships and had only dropped three games in the entire Paralympic cycle. Unfazed by their formidable opponents, the Australians emerged victorious, winning only the team’s second Paralympic gold medal in the event. “It’s hard to put into words the sensation and feeling of winning a gold medal,” Knowles says. “It was the payoff for years of hard work and sacrifices.”

The Rollers backed up their Paralympic victory with wins at the 2010 and 2014 world championships, establishing themselves as the team to beat in international competition. Though on the Paralympic stage, success was harder to come by. Silver was all they could muster at the 2012 Games, despite entering the tournament as favourites. At Rio 2016, the Rollers were knocked out in the quarterfinals and faced the same result at Tokyo 2020.

Despite the recent disappointments, Knowles is confident that the Rollers can end their medal drought in Paris, with him now serving as the team’s captain. And at this point, he knows what to expect. “By the time you go to your sixth games, you kind of know how a lot of things are going to go. But that hunger for success never goes away,” Knowles says. “It’s been 10 years since the Rollers have been in the final of a major event, and that’s a hell of a long time to go between drinks. We’ve got a real chance of winning gold in Paris.”

Expect Knowles to give it all at the Games, but whether or not the Rollers win gold or crash out early, he won’t let it define his career. “As an athlete, you’re taught this mentality of all or nothing. I think that can be helpful sometimes, but it’s not always the right mentality,” he says. “What I’ve learned as time’s gone by, and particularly through being an AIA vitality ambassador, is that for most people it’s more about those small somethings. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about doing little things consistently for a long period of time.”

This is what Knowles calls the “all or something” mindset. It’s helping him ground himself in reality heading into the Paralympics, but he also believes it can benefit everyday Australians. “On a more basic level, it might mean getting a set amount of work done each day of the week, or drinking more water or getting eight hours of sleep a night. If we can look after our own health and just do something, that’s all that really matters.”

“I’m really fortunate with the platform that I have as a Paralympian and within AIA to be someone who can advocate for people to look after their financial wellbeing too,” Knowles continues. “As an athlete, I’m acutely aware of how important it is to look after my physical and mental health, but in my role with AIA, I’ve come across some studies that have uncovered some pretty alarming stuff, like that someone experiencing financial stress is twice as likely to experience mental health challenges. So staying on top of your financial wellbeing can be just as important.”

Heading into Paris, Knowles hasn’t yet confirmed whether or not this Paralympics will be his last. He insists that he doesn’t want to leave until he’s certain that the national team is in a better position than what it was when he made his debut. Not that we’re encouraging an early retirement, but regardless of the outcome in Paris, we can say with confidence that Knowles has left an indelible mark on wheelchair basketball, and the Rollers are better for it.

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The post At his sixth Paralympics, Tristan Knowles will give it all he’s got appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

The 25-year-old defeated Russian world no.6 Andrey Rublev, 6-2, 6-4, becoming the first Australian to win an ATP Masters 1000 title since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003.

Popyrin’s path to the final was an arduous one – Rublev was the fourth seeded opponent Popyrin has defeated to claim the title, after previously beating Hubert Hurkacz, Grigor Dimitrov and Ben Shelton.

Popyrin was ranked 30 going into the match, and has now beaten five top-20 opponents in succession, helping push him to the brink of the top 20, behind compatriot Alex de Minaur, who’s ranked 10.

The win is also good news for Popyrin’s bank account, which received an injection of $US1,049,460 ($1.6m AUD).

“It means so much, it means the world,” Popyrin said after his victory. “All the hard work that I’ve put in over the last few years, [and] all the sacrifices I’ve made – not just me, but my family, my girlfriend, my team, everybody around me. They’ve just sacrificed their whole lives for me, and for me to win this for them is just amazing.”

Alexei Popyrin at Wimbledon I @alexeipopyrin

Who is Alexei Popyrin?

Popyrin was born in Sydney to Russian parents. At 8, Popyrin and his family moved to Dubai for two years, before moving to Alicante in Spain, where fellow Australian Alex de Minaur was his neighbour.

After turning pro in 2016 aged 16, in 2019 Popyrin began to make his presence felt on the ATP tour, making the second round or beyond in all four Grand Slams, including the third round at Wimbledon and the US Open. He won his first ATP title at the Singapore Open in 2021.

This year is proving to be a banner one for Popyrin, who made the third round of the Paris Olympics, beating Nicolás Jarry and Stan Wawrinka, before losing to former Olympic champion Alexander Zverev.

Popyrin’s victory at the Canadian Open catapults him to no.24 in the ATP rankings.

How does Alexei Popyrin train?

According to Tennis Australia, Popyrin likes to practise playing points. “Any drill that we do, we try to implement a points structure to it,” he says. “That way I subconsciously raise my level and intensity.”

Popyrin generally trains at 10 or 11am and if he’s doing two-a-days, again at 3-4pm. Not a huge fan of cardio, Popyrin has turned a potential weakness into a strength, conscious a strong endurance base is essential to his ability to progress to the second week of grand slams.

What are Alexei Popyrin’s strengths?

At 196cm, Popyrin has a booming serve, backed up by heavy groundstrokes. He moves well for a big man, his long reach allowing him to run down drop shots or cover lobs. The 25-year-old has also been praised for his even temperament, with frequent Federer comparisons – always nice.

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The post Why Alexei Popyrin could be our next big tennis star appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Wearing this type of timepiece during a 19.53-second sprint is clearly a flex, since “there’s no performance reason for [these athletes] to wear luxury watches,” explains Aaron Rapf, the founder and CEO of Advantage Sports Marketing Group, a sports agency that connects brands with athletes. Runners are no stranger to pricy performance watches (a high-end Garmin can cost upwards of $900), and luxury watch companies are increasingly aligned with elite runners to “connect their company values to the sports landscape – which is one of the last bastions of true culture,” he adds. “If you want to be in a moment where you attract millions of people’s eyeballs at one time, it’s sports.”

These race day cameos are part of a more subtle approach to marketing, says Pierre-Loïc Assayag, CEO and co-founder of Traackr, an influencer marketing software company. “In the past, luxury brands were more focused on the product and the luxury associated with that product,” he says. “Now, these companies are taking the top athletes and putting them in front of their target audience, or one close to it, to demonstrate by proximity that ‘we are the precision brand’ or ‘we are the endurance brand.”

The kind of maneuvering uses a third party – one that’s fast, flashy, and accomplishing amazing feats – to craft an image the brand wants audiences to respond to. And by choosing athletes as brand champions, companies deftly align themselves with the hallmarks of high performance: precision, prestige, innovation, exclusivity, heritage, and craftsmanship.

In the past, those buzzwords were more likely to call to mind country club-esque activities (think: tennis or horseback riding) or auto racing, where the traditional consumer has been very upper class, living a high-cost lifestyle. But as culture skews more towards sport, health, and wellness, leaning into the popularity of running opens companies up to a new class of consumers, says Jessica Quillin, a luxury fashion brand and content strategist. “Track and field seems more accessible, because even though these athletes are performing at a super elevated level, anyone can go out and run,” she explains.

By association, watches become a more accessible form of wearable luxury. You may not wear one to train or on race day like the elite, sponsored athletes, but a sporty aesthetic can translate into your everyday life; post-run, you can still swap your COROS smartwatch for a sleek, sporty timepiece from a brand like Omega (which happens to sponsor the Diamond League, an annual series of pro track and field competitions). And though you may not be ready to buy a five-figure watch now, these companies are playing the long game; by connecting themselves with major players in sport, they’re hoping to build brand recognition and loyalty among potential future customers.

The watch brands Olympic runners are wearing

For those looking to upgrade their Garmin – now or as a future reward for finally achieving that personal best – these are a few of the luxury watches your favourite track and field stars have been sporting.

Hublot

Sprinter Dina Asher-Smith is the fastest British woman on record, with two Olympic bronze medals from the 4 x 100-metre relay to her name. She’s also no stranger to luxury partnerships, having previously modelled for Louis Vuitton, Valentino, and Off-White, and has been working with Hublot since 2018. Asher-Smith has promoted a variation on Hublot’s flagship model, the Big Bang One Click, which starts at $14,200. Its smaller face was designed for slimmer wrists, and uses the brand’s patented “One Click” fastening system so wearers can swap out the straps for other colours or materials. The sporty, semi-skeletonized hands balance out flashiness of the diamonds on the bezel, and a self-winding caliber packs plenty of power into the compact timepiece.

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Tag Heuer

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who is representing Team USA in Paris again after breaking her own World Record in the 400-metre hurdles in June, has been sponsored by Tag Heuer since 2021. Tag Heuer is often considered the Cadillac of luxury watches, and McLaughlin-Levrone’s preferred watch, the Connected Calibre E4, is closest to the average runner’s GPS smartwatch: it operates on Wear OS by Google; has a 1.28-inch AMOLED display with crisp resolution; houses a heart rate sensor, barometer, and compass; and holds a 24-hour charge, including a one-hour sports session. The basic model, which includes a rubber strap, starts at $2,100.

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Longines

Olympic bronze medallist Josh Kerr is a double World Champion – in the 1,500-metre and 3,000-metre – which made him a natural representative for Swiss watch brand Longines, the official partner and timekeeper of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Kerr, who is not currently working with Longines, recently ran a 3:45.34 in the Bowerman Mile, a historic and prestigious race held annually at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, OR, to set a new world-leading time in the event and a new British record. Back in 2022, Kerr wore the-limited edition HydroConquest XXII Commonwealth Games, a sporty steel dive watch with an automatic caliber, or engine, one-directional ceramic bezel, luminescent indices and hands, and an anti-reflective coating for crystal clear readability in any situation.

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Omega

In addition to their Paris 2024 partnership, Omega is the official sponsor of the Diamond League (an annual series of elite track and field competitions) and counts Noah Lyles – one of the biggest personalities in track and field – as an ambassador. Lyles, who earned a bronze medal in the 200-metre race at the 2020 Tokyo Games and has his sights on breaking Usain Bolt’s records in the 100- and 200-metre races, wears Omega’s iconic Speedmaster Moonphase. This style was introduced in the 1980s, but the latest model – an oversized, steel-on-steel timepiece – was the first to earn a Master Chronometer certification thanks to a self-winding engine designed to withstand temperature fluctuations, water immersion, and electromagnetic frequencies. The timepiece can also hold up to the shock that comes with covering 100 metres in less than 10 seconds (when it’s on Lyles’s wrist, at least).

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Richard Mille

Ahead of what she said would be her final Olympic Games, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce – the most decorated athlete in 100-metre history –announced a partnership with Richard Mille. Fraser-Pryce wears the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport, the first women’s sports watch from the McLaren of watch brands, which retails at $185,000 (it’s the same watch Nafi Thiam, a double Olympic champion from Belgium, wore while setting a new pentathlon world record in 2023). The skeletonised aesthetic is housed in a compact case with rigid finishings for shock-resistance, and the button on the side allows the wearer to switch between winding, neutral, and time setting modes for the crown. While it would be nearly impossible to read during a race, at 36 grams it’s lighter than most standard running watches.

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This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.

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The post Why Olympic runners are wearing luxury watches on the track appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Short-distance swimmers have perhaps the shortest career-span of any athletes. Since McEvoy’s pet event, the 50m freestyle, was introduced to the Olympic program in 1988, the average age of gold medallists has been 23.9, while only one person aged over 30 has won the event. Swimmers’ athletic careers begin to taper around their mid-20s – prime years in any other sport – while another Australian swimming hero, Kyle Chalmers, previously hinted at retirement at just 25 years of age. Even McEvoy himself admitted to the ABC that “You’re 24 in swimming and they’re handing you your pension.”

McEvoy didn’t just lay down and accept his fate though. On the brink of retirement, he went back to the drawing board and returned in the best form of his life, winning his first and only world championship gold medal in 2023 with a career-best, national record-breaking time of 21.06 seconds in the 50m freestyle, making him the oldest Australian swimmer to ever win a world title. Now, he’s an Olympic champion.

INSTAGRAM | @cam_mcevoy

So, how can we account for McEvoy’s inexplicable late-career renaissance? We can’t. By all metrics, McEvoy should be declining, not reaching his peak after entering his fourth decade. Although, according to the man himself, the answer is actually quite simple: he’s slashed his training workload.

Having swam up to 70km a week growing up and maintaining a 30km per week rate throughout his career, McEvoy has drastically changed his routine. The 30-year-old now swims just 3km per week, and he credits the shift for his sudden resurgence. “It’s significantly extended the longevity of my career,” he said earlier this year.

“My whole career was 11-and-a-half months of 30km a week, massive volume, tapering, and it’s the first time you hit intensity all year,” McEvoy continued. “For a very long time I always had questions about how we train. I didn’t agree with a large majority of it, but I hadn’t spent the time to really dive in.”

Clearly, McEvoy’s choice has paid off. But it goes against everything dictated by the most basic principles of strength and athletic training. Even outside of athletic performance, McEvoy argues that changing up his training routine has had unforeseen benefits. “It takes the pressure off a lot,” he said. “I can do the Olympics, [world championships], then have 12 months exploring other stuff and come back. And I’ve got tonnes of side quests I want to do… train for 100m track sprinting and see how low I can go, the world street lifting competition.”

INSTAGRAM @cam_mcevoy

Can training less improve performance?

So, could a less is more approach actually catch on? Well, as the recent body of evidence suggests, there are rewards to be reaped from a less intensive training routine. In running, training programs like the Norwegian method, which argue for running just below the lactate threshold (in layman’s terms: the point where it gets too hard to maintain), have become accepted practice. A 2023 Spanish study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health provided the necessary scientific backing for the method and it’s since become a cornerstone of many athletes’ training routines.

In strength training, the debate is more complicated, but some studies do point to training less being just as effective. A 2020 study published in the European Journal of Translational Myology found that training for muscular hypertrophy, which involves lifting heavier weights for fewer reps, alongside high protein intake to increase muscle mass, doesn’t necessarily increase strength. Instead, if gaining strength is your aim, the focus should be on higher rep ranges, according to the study.

McEvoy’s approach to training is actively rewriting the book on Olympic swimming. A line of work that was once reserved almost exclusively for athletes in their late teens and early 20s is now looking dramatically more open. We don’t have enough scientific evidence to outright declare that everyone should immediately start training less, but if McEvoy’s journey is any indication, it could at least be worth a try.

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The post How training less helped Cam McEvoy win his first gold medal at 30 appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

“For me, when there’s a championship, I’m always excited,” says Bolt, a Hublot ambassador, who’s speaking to me today on Men’s Health’s Turning Point Podcast from his home in Jamaica. “You know what I mean? Especially if I knew I was in great shape, I knew training went well, I knew everything was flowing, then I’m just in a great mood and feeling wonderful. I would be feeling good right now.”

Bolt – a man whose very name invokes the might of the gods, the potency of elemental forces and is perhaps the greatest-ever argument for the power of nominative determinism – was famously relaxed on the starting blocks at major meets. As his po-faced competitors postured and preened, the Jamaican superstar unselfconsciously played to the crowd, before settling down into his blocks to get down to business.

Standing 6’ 5”, Bolt would often be relatively slow out of the blocks. It didn’t matter. His astonishing leg speed, coupled with his long stride, enabled him to reel in then blast past his competitors. Many times, he celebrated before reaching the finishing line. In Rio, he famously traded smiles with Canadian silver medallist Andre de Grasse. Afterwards, in the glow of victory, track and field’s court jester would resume his dialogue with the crowd, as he unleashed his signature bow-and-arrow pose.

“For me, it was easy,” says Bolt of his chilled-out vibes on the track. “It was just my personality. It was who I am.”

In case you needed any reminding, Bolt took the athletics world by storm back at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning the 100m in a record time of 9.69 seconds and the 200m in 19.30, also a world record. A year later at the World Championships in Berlin, he would smash those records, this time clocking 9.58 in the 100m and 19.19 in the 200m. He would defend his Olympic titles in London in 2012 and again in Rio in 2016, adding to his haul with gold medals in the 4 x 100m in London and Rio.

In its sustained excellence, Bolt’s is a resume you would think would be safe for some time – the 100m mark looks particularly untouchable. But American Noah Lyles has approached Bolt’s 200m record, recording a time of 19.31 in 2022. How does the greatest sprinter of all time feel about the possibility of his records one day falling?

“Anybody who has a record hopes it lasts forever,” says the 37-year-old. “You always want to be in the record books for as long as possible. I wish it would continue. And hopefully, when my boys come and they do track and field they can break it. That’d be pretty cool.”

But while he hopes his records endure, the Jamaican admires Lyles’ ambition. “You got to respect that,” he says of Lyles’ stated aim to claim Bolt’s records and his mantle as the track and field GOAT. “I think as an athlete, you definitely want to break records and be on top and be the best. He seems like a hardworking guy, pretty chill. But for me, I never want my record to go. But if it goes, records were meant to be broken.”

So, how did Bolt manage to sustain motivation once he’d claimed the gold in Beijing and the world record in 2009? The truth is, behind his laid back demeanour, Bolt was a disciplined and highly strategic athlete – and one who always had an eye on his legacy.

“My main goal was winning three Olympics back-to-back,” he says. “But every year I would just set a target time I would want to try to win the [world] championship in, that was always something. I was always pushing myself.”

That attitude was one that had to be forged. Bolt admits that as a junior athlete blessed with preternatural talent, it all came a little too easily to him. “I was a very talented youngster,” he says. “I won the World Juniors when I was 15, won World Youths. I was always dominant, but I never trained that hard to get to that level. So, when I got to the professional level, I felt like it was the same thing, I would just make it easily, no problem. I thought I didn’t have to work that hard.”

Working with coach Glen Mills helped Bolt knuckle down. “I think over the years of working with my coach and travelling and learning a lot, I just matured and understood that, Listen, if I want to be great, if I want to be good, I have to buckle down and train hard. And that’s what happened. We got to ’07 and I lost to Tyson Gay in the 200 metres. That’s when I was like, You know what, I really need to put in the full work and I really need to buckle down. That was the turning point.”

Bolt wearing the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Automatic Yellow Neon Saxem I image courtesy of Hublot

He would never look back – except to see his competitors trailing in his wake – after ’07 and joining him on that journey has been luxury Swiss watchmaker Hublot. Bolt became an ambassador for the maison in 2010, impressed by their vision and the way it aligned with his own goals. “It was just a magnificent brand, a brand that was continuously growing,” he says. “I think one of the big things was that when I started out and I wanted to start working on my foundation they were so supportive. Any event I was doing, there was always that support. When I’d just started, that was necessary and that was needed. For me, that was a big thing.”

Today he’s wearing the very first watch the brand designed for him, the Usain Bolt Big Bang King Power, featuring the same gold-coloured synthetic leather as his sprinting spikes. “It was my first watch. They made this after Beijing. This is one of my favourites. That’s why I’m wearing it today. I love this watch because it started everything.”

By everything, he means a legacy that will be tough for any track athlete to ever top. One that has the implicit bonus that you get to wake up every morning knowing you’re the fastest human being who’s ever lived. It’s hard to imagine what that feels like – or the God-tier bragging rights it gives you over your mates.

Bolt breaks into a smile. “Sometimes I remind my friends like, ‘Yo, just remember I’m the fastest man in the world’. It’s always fun to talk about. It’s a great title to have.”

Usain Bolt is a Hublot ambassador

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The post Usain Bolt on world records, mindset and an unparalleled legacy appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

“I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics,” Robinson told Men’s Health from Red Bull HQ in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria, six months out from his maiden Olympic campaign. “But growing up and having a look at the Olympic sports, none of them were really my thing. I’m not a runner, I’m not swimmer, I’ve always been a surfer, and that wasn’t an option.” Fortunately, that changed in 2021, when surfing became an Olympic sport for the first time.

During surfing’s Olympic debut, Robinson watched on from home as his compatriot, Owen Wright, secured a bronze medal—the first ever Olympic medal to be handed out in surfing. “I watched every second of it,” says Robinson. “I’ve known Owen since I was a little kid and watching him do that was amazing.” That moment lit a fire under Robinson. “It made me want to do the same,” he says.

Robinson is getting his shot at Olympic glory. After three rounds of competition at the Games, he’s endured a crushing, last-second defeat in his opening heat, survived a sudden-death elimination round, and has now upset current world number one John John Florence to advance to the quarterfinal stage, where he’ll matchup against his fellow Australian, Ethan Ewing.

On the day of our interview earlier this year, Robinson was surrounded by other Red Bull athletes, all of them Olympians. Some, flagbearer and five-time medallist Jess Fox on Robinson’s left, had gone through the Olympic process before and knew what to expect. Others, like Robinson himself, were new to this experience. But he’s never been averse to taking on new challenges, or performing under a microscope.

Robinson has grown accustomed to the spotlight. After all, when he first gained international recognition, he was barely a teenager. By age 13, clips of Robinson carving up Pipeline’s infamously hazardous ten-foot swells had gone viral online, and The Weekend Australian had already declared him the next Kelly Slater. By age 14, he was ranked first on Surfer Magazine’s hot 100 juniors list. And by age 16, he’d been crowned a junior world champion.

When he first rose to prominence, Robinson sported a signature bright blonde bowl cut that helped him stand out from the rest of the lineup while out on the waves. Today, Robinson’s hair has faded to a sandy brown. He’s changed in other ways, too. No longer is Robinson the plucky, scrawny kid punching well above his weight. He’s now six feet tall and boasts the surf-honed musculature that can only be achieved through years of hard paddling in the ocean. But despite his changes, Robinson still has the same look in his eyes OF that kid who badly needed a haircut, one that said, I want to be the best in the world at what I do, and I know I can be.

When we asked Robinson if he believes he can become an Olympic champion, he answered faster than one of his signature whipping aerials. “Of course I can,” he replies, marginally insulted by the apparent affront. Don’t confuse Robinson’s self-confidence for arrogance though. He’s been close to his sport’s apex before and knows what it will take to get over the hump. For Robinson, becoming the best in the world isn’t something he strives to achieve, but something he knows will happen.

A tough draw awaits Robinson in the remaining rounds at the Olympics. will face stiff competition at the Olympics. He’s already dispatched the biggest fish in the tournament in John John Florence, but three-time world champion Gabriel Medina remains in contention, along with 2023 WSL tour finalist João Chianca and of course, Robinson’s compatriot Ethan Ewing. It’s a formidable list of competitors, but when I presented a similar one to Robinson in January, he seemed entirely nonplussed. “I’ve already shown I can win events and be among those guys,” he said.

Robinson is unperturbed by the challenges posed by his rivals. He’s had to work harder than most to get to where he is now and has proven time and again that major setbacks won’t stop him from reaching his goals. But to understand the surety of Robinson’s conviction, we need to take a step back in time, because this is my second interview with the surfer, and much has changed since our first.

Red Bull | Ryan Miller

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME Robinson and I have met face to face. The night before our first chat—which took place over Zoom in March of 2023—Robinson had flown home to Perth after a gruelling Red Bull training camp high in the Austrian Alps, where his body was pushed to its physical limits. Under such circumstances, Robinson could be forgiven for blowing off our interview and sleeping in. Which is exactly what he did. On the morning of our Zoom call, Robinson overslept.

Upon joining an empty virtual meeting room, I began to wait, expecting Robinson to join at any moment. But as the minutes ticked by, I began to grow worried. Had Robinson skipped our meeting as some kind of pointed slight? Did he simply not have the time of day for a lowly writer such as myself?

These fears culminated in my sending of an admittedly terse message to Robinson seeping with thinly veiled passive aggression. “Hey Jack, meeting was supposed to be at 11… are we still on for today?” I wrote. My doubts were quickly quelled by an extremely jet-lagged Robinson, who had slept through his various alarms and was awoken by my message, responding with a frantic “Sorry mate! I’ll be on in five minutes.” Besides subduing my regrettably impatient mood, Robinson also proved that despite his freakish talent, he’s still demonstratively human. He’s also one of the most easy-going guys around and immediately forgave me for my insolence.

At the time of that meeting, Robinson was flying high. Fresh off a second-place finish in the 2022 WSL finals, Robinson continued his strong form. And after opening the 2023 season with a victory at the Pipeline Pro, he became the world’s number one surfer, sitting atop the WSL rankings.

Just a few weeks out from the Bells Beach Pro and his home event, the Margaret River Pro—where he would have a chance to defend his title from 2022—Robinson told me he had his sights firmly set on becoming a world champion—and sooner rather than later. However, as is the case in the ever fickle sport of surfing, it only takes a single moment for everything to go wrong.

Less than two weeks after our interview, Robinson injured his meniscus during the Bells Beach Pro. With a noticeable limp hampering his walking ability as he exited the water, Robinson initially downplayed the severity of the injury. Taking to Instagram to dispense of any lingering fears, Robinson wrote “On my last wave I did a layback and my leg turned in a funny angle — I’m resting up, healing and will see everyone at the next comp.”

In reality, the injury was more serious than expected. Robinson had a tear on his meniscus and bone bruising in the surrounding area. Reflecting on the experience, Jack admits he was pushing himself too hard. “I was feeling pretty burnt out at that time,” he says. “I didn’t realise it back then, but I was doing so much and working so hard and everything came to a head.” The original diagnosis called for at least three months of inaction, forcing Robinson to spend an extended period in recovery and to pull out from his pet event, the Margaret River Pro. The diagnosis all but ended Robinson’s shot at a world championship title in 2023.

Red Bull | Tyrone Bradley

In professional sport, the amount of work that goes into recovering from an injury is even greater than regular training and Robinson’s experience was no different. “Every day I was doing recovery work to get the swelling on my knee down,” he says. “I was doing low impact exercises and stretching two or three times a day. I spent a crazy amount of time on the bike and did heaps of stuff with a physio [therapist].”

Try as he might to push through the pain and rejoin the pro tour, recovering took time. “I wanted to go surf Margaret [River] straight up, but I couldn’t even move my knee,” Robinson says. “After about two weeks I felt more mobile and started pushing harder. It felt like I turned into some mythical creature because I was pushing so hard.” Here, Robinson points to Red Bull’s support as critical. “They supported me on the road the whole time. They sent physios and trainers to help me out whenever I needed it.”

Despite initially being ruled out of action for at least three months, Robinson returned to the water just six weeks after his injury—a testament to his unrelenting drive. “A lot of doctors were like ‘no you can’t do that so soon’, but others were saying ‘yeah, you probably could’. I trusted the ones that said I could do it,” he says. Now, Robinson believes the challenge of recovery made him stronger. “I just felt like I had so much power inside of me. I felt like I could push through it and overcome it. Honestly, it was a really good test and something I feel like I had to go through.”

While Robinson’s swift return to the pro tour defied medical explanation, it was clear that he still wasn’t at full strength. After beginning the season with three-straight podium finishes, he was then eliminated in the round of 32 four-straight times following his return. “I’ll be honest, I probably did come back too early,” he admits. “I had about four or five bad events where I wasn’t at my best.”

A quarterfinal appearance at J-Bay in the season’s penultimate event proved that Robinson was still one of the most talented surfers on the tour, even if he wasn’t operating at the peak of his powers. A month later, Robinson punctuated his WSL return with a victory at the Tahiti Pro, catapulting him from eight to fifth in the rankings and securing the last spot in the finals. The victory didn’t come easily. To qualify for the finals, Robinson defeated three-time world champion Gabriel Medina in the Tahiti decider, overtaking the Brazilian in the rankings and nabbing his spot in the finals right out from under him. “Before that I felt like I wasn’t really free with my surfing,” he says. “Winning that last event helped me prove to myself that I was back to normal.”

As fate would have it, the iconic Teahupo’o reef break where the Tahiti Pro was held is precisely where Robinson is surfing at the Olympics. Despite the Games nominally taking place in Paris, the metropolitan capital of France, the city of lights and love doesn’t have much to offer by way of serious swell and beguiling breaks. With no waves to be found in Paris, the inclusion of surfing on the Olympic program necessitated the search for more suitable locations by Games organisers. Eventually, they landed on Teahupo’o, which, as part of French Polynesia, is a French overseas territory, even though it’s more than 15,000 kilometres from Paris.

Robinson told Men’s Health that he’s pleased with the site of the event and feels he has a natural advantage due to his experience there. “I feel like I’ve been there so many times that everything’s familiar,” he says. Tahiti’s distance from France meant Robinson had to miss the Olympics’ opening ceremony. Instead, he spent a few days acclimatising to the conditions in the Pacific, a necessary sacrifice, if you take his word for it. “If the waves are really big at Teahupo’o, there’s nothing that can prepare you other than being there and just getting used to it.”

Red Bull | Ryan Miller

OVER HIS YEARS in the waves, Robinson has developed a tried and tested pre-surf ritual centred around meditation. At pro events, it’s not unusual to witness Robinson parting crowds like Moses with the Red Sea to clear some space for his routine. The whole process makes for quite the showcase. Consequently, television crews and fans typically flock to get a shot of the surfer putting himself through his paces, but Robinson is not concerned with perceived histrionics; he genuinely believes that his routine is crucial for his success.

“I’m just trying to make myself feel as comfortable as possible in those situations,” Robinson says. “There’s so much pressure in these events and I want it to feel as familiar as possible, so keeping with my regular routine really helps with that.”

Robinson meditates daily and his devotion to the ancient practice extends beyond breathing exercises at events. He has a purpose built “meditation station” at home, which he insists is “not as big of a deal as it sounds”. Despite downplaying its grandeur, Robinson uses his meditation station as often as possible. “It’s just a little room I use for some quiet time almost daily. It’s really nice to have a routine, and meditating in the morning can be your anchor for the day,” he says.

At the end of 2023, Robinson became a dad, welcoming his first son, named Zen. “It’s everything and more,” he says. “No one can tell you what to expect and it doesn’t really sink in until it happens. I’m so full of joy at the moment and feeling extremely fulfilled.”

Besides prompting several sleepless nights, Robinson believes becoming a father has resulted in a supreme boost to his mental fortitude. “Everyone laughs at me when I say it, but dad strength is a real thing,” he says. “It makes you value your family and the people you spend time with, and I feel like that’s what we’re really here for. It also makes you reconsider what matters in your life. Things that once seemed so important don’t seem so important anymore.”

I somewhat sarcastically asked Robinson whether he’d started Zen on a training program and had him in the waves yet—half expecting a chuckle and half expecting a disdainful scowl for suggesting such an endeavour. To my surprise, Jack replied without missing a beat, “I already chucked him on Steph’s board last week. I saw her in the car park at the beach recently and he had a go on her board, I got the best little photo.” The owner of the aforementioned board is just ‘Steph’ to top-level surfers like Robinson, but to you and I, that’s Stephanie Gilmore, the most decorated female surfer of all time and an eight-time world champion. It’s safe to say that Zen’s coaching team won’t be lacking in expertise.

As for Zen’s future surfing career, Robinson already has some plans in the works. “He’s gonna be a regular footer I think, but my plan is to make him a goofy and a regular,” he says. “If he can be both, I reckon he’d be the best surfer ever, and that’d be pretty cool.” A reminder, Zen is only a few months old. But with guidance like that, he’s destined to follow in his dad’s footsteps.

Robinson is taking 2024 in his stride. 2023 saw him overcome numerous obstacles and welcome new gifts, both of which he believes have made him stronger. All eyes will be on Robinson in this week, when he gets his chance at claiming Australia’s first ever gold medal in surfing. But his quest to become a world champion and Olympic medallist won’t define his legacy, nor is it keeping him up at night. He knows his time on top will come, so what’s the use in rushing it? “Right now, I’m on my own time and I know what I have to do to reach my goals, but there’s no point in putting too much pressure on myself, it’ll happen when it happens,” he says. I believe him.

Red Bull | Ryan Miller

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The post Jack Robinson on Olympic dreams, the power of meditation and dad strength appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.

Pounding his chest and adjusting his goggles by the pool’s edge is Kyle Chalmers, a towering presence whose outsized frame alone is enough to intimidate his opponents. At 194cm and 93kg, it’s easy to see why he once considered following in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career in the AFL. Those decisions are long behind him, however, as he stands resolute beside the starting block, primed to deliver a resounding victory. He didn’t swim in the heat; he didn’t need to. Chalmers is the alpha of the Australian men’s swim team. The undisputed leader. The man everyone counts on when the going gets tough, and this scenario is as tough as they come.

From the moment Chalmers enters the water, it becomes a race for the silver medal. Despite starting 0.14 seconds behind the leader, by the time he’s surging down the home stretch, Chalmers is already half a body length ahead of his closest rival, ultimately finishing 0.33 seconds ahead of second place, with a scintillating split of just 46.56 seconds.

That outing served as a warning for the rest of the field. Four days later, Chalmers would finish on the podium again in the 100-metre freestyle, his first individual gold medal at the world championships, completing his long sought-after trifecta and putting him in elite company with swimming’s all-time greats.

When he caught up with Men’s Health late last year, Chalmers was poised to embark on his third Olympic campaign, but seven years removed from his first, he looks quite different. There’s no trace of the clean cut 18-year-old that induced uproarious celebrations across the nation when he won gold back in 2016. The now moustachioed Chalmers sports a shaved head and bristly facial hair, of course, he’s also covered in tattoos—or ‘pain stickers’ as he calls them.

After allowing himself a brief respite following the world championships, the 25-year-old was getting back into the swing of things with an intensive training regimen. “I’m starting to get back into some of the best shape I’ve been in, and by the time Paris rolls around next year, I’ll be in the best shape I’ve been in,” he told Men’s Health during a chat at a bustling Sydney café—the only refuge we could find from the torrential rain marring Chalmers’ only day in Sydney. After re-signing with leading Australian grooming brand Wahl as an ambassador, Chalmers was doing the rounds promoting the brand’s range of men’s trimmers, hair clippers and shavers before returning to routine preparations back home in Adelaide.

Surprisingly, for an athlete who has already reached the pinnacle of his sport, Chalmers is still finding room for improvement. “This year’s probably the first year I’ve really been on top of my mental, emotional and physical health and I really put that down to finding myself outside of the pool,” he says. That’s a loaded statement, one that is slightly menacing.

Considering that Chalmers has already been an Olympic champion, if he’s only now achieving holistic health, his rivals ought to watch out. But to understand the thinking behind Chalmers’ current attitude, we need to take a step back in time.

Chalmers’ talents are on full display in his latest Wahl commercial, promoting the brand’s range of men’s trimmers, hair clippers and shavers.

HEART POUNDING, HEAD SPINNING, PALMS SWEATING, Chalmers faced the cacophonous cheers of the crowd and the countless camera flashes at the 2016 Rio Olympics like he was accustomed to the world’s gaze—he wasn’t, what 18-year-old competing in the final of the 100-metre freestyle would be? Chalmers says the gravity of the situation hadn’t quite set in at the time, but he was feeling the pressure nonetheless. “It was an overwhelming experience,” he explains. “But that’s a feeling I crave. That adrenaline and nervous energy and the crowd excitement, all your senses are just ready to go.”

Chalmers has been bestowed with many iconic nicknames throughout his swimming career. ‘King Kyle’, ‘The Big Tuna’, ‘Prince Chalmers’, and ‘No dramas Chalmers’ to name a few. Titles like those come with the territory after nearly a decade of dominance in the pool. But when he stepped onto the starting block for the final in Rio, Chalmers hadn’t yet earned a formidable nickname, he was effectively a nobody.

That race didn’t go how it was supposed to. With a lineup featuring defending Olympic champion Nathan Adrian, red-hot Aussie favourite Cameron McEvoy and future five-time Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Caeleb Dressel, the field was so strong that the world champion at the time, Ning Zetao, couldn’t crack the final. The relatively unknown 18-year-old in lane five, who had admittedly impressed during qualifying, was never supposed to win.

At the 50-metre mark, the race was following the script. Canadian Santo Condorelli had jumped out to a narrow lead, with Adrian, Dressel and McEvoy trailing close behind. It appeared that Australia’s best hope for a medal was McEvoy, who hit the wall in fourth place and was gaining fast on the leader. Meanwhile, Chalmers was sitting precariously close to the tail end of the field, appearing almost out of contention and reaching the halfway mark in seventh place. That’s when he kicked it up a gear.

Down the final stretch, Chalmers saw his moment and took it. Surging home with a speed his rivals couldn’t possibly match, Chalmers was first to touch the wall, claiming a maiden gold medal and immediately stamping his name in Australian Olympic folklore. “There’s been no better feeling in my swimming career than turning around and seeing the number one next to my name and realising what I’d just achieved,” he says. “I know how good it feels and it’s something that I’m desperate to achieve again, and that’s why I’m still swimming.”

Chalmers, who astoundingly swims with his eyes closed, was as surprised as those watching from home when he looked up towards the big screen and saw the number one beside his name, but he didn’t show it. With an expression you could almost call blank plastered across his face, Chalmers gave only a subdued pump of his fist in celebration. There was no sign of the usual raucous splashing of water and deafening cheering that typically accompanies such an accomplishment. Chalmers has a fairly simple explanation for his reaction. “At that age, I was quite young and naïve, I didn’t really know what I’d achieved,” he admits. “For me it was just like winning another swimming race.”

WITH OLYMPIC GLORY comes a wave of international recognition and admiration, especially when the centre of attention is a fresh-faced teenager. Chalmers rode that wave into various lucrative sponsorship deals, TV spots and brand ambassadorships. But the high was never going to last.

Chalmers would undergo heart surgery in 2017 for a condition called supraventricular tachycardia, which isn’t life threatening, but can lead to rapid heartbeats. The surgery failed to fix the problem and the fallout from the operation forced Chalmers to miss the 2017 world championships, necessitating a lengthy recovery process. A year later at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Chalmers ventured into uncharted territory with a gold medal in the 200-metre freestyle, but failed to take the crown in his marquee event—the 100-metre freestyle—as he struggled to get back to his physical best.

Another heart surgery in 2019 finally remedied Chalmers’ condition, but the consistent medical issues and the weight of immense pressure took a toll on his mental health. “It all came crashing down for me,” he says. “I’ve never been an emotional person, but I found myself being very emotional, crying quite a lot, and just not being able to find my happiness.”

It wasn’t until Chalmers returned home to Adelaide and had a much-needed sit down with his mother that he realised something had to give, and he decided to seek professional help. After consulting doctors and psychologists, Chalmers was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and started rebuilding from the ground up. “It took a long time to find myself and re-establish myself as Kyle Chalmers again, not just this swimmer that everyone’s stopping for photos and signatures everywhere,” he recalls.

The delay of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to the Covid-19 pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for Chalmers, who underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery in 2020, which would have otherwise put him out of action for the Games. He would undergo a similar operation on the opposite shoulder in 2022—talk about a tough break.

Chalmers used the delay to realign and reassess. When the Tokyo Games finally rolled around, he swam a personal best time in the 100-metre freestyle final, but ultimately missed out on a repeat gold by the slimmest of margins—0.06 seconds to be precise. Having recently re-upped his ambassadorship with Wahl, Chalmers jokes that perhaps a “cleaner shave the night before” could’ve made the difference by propelling him through the water that much faster. “I really only missed out by a hair,” he says. Needless to say, he won’t be leaving anything to chance the next time around.

Despite finishing one spot lower on the podium than five years prior, Chalmers insists he couldn’t be happier with the result. “For me, my silver is a better achievement than my gold,” he says. “Just getting back there after all the challenges I went though and being able to swim a personal best time in an Olympic final make it one of my greatest and proudest moments. There was a time where I thought I wasn’t even going to be there.”

TODAY, CHALMERS IS DRIVEN by something greater than recapturing the taste of glory. “I’m very proud that I’ve been able to achieve everything that the 100-metre freestyle has to offer,” he says. “I’ve ticked every box, anything else is a bonus from here on out.”

For Chalmers, the goal is still to be the best, but he’s no longer crippling himself with internal pressure, while also tuning out the external noise. Looking ahead to Paris 2024, Chalmers knows he can win gold, but it’s not going to make or break his legacy. “I’m going to do my absolute best. Whether that means I’ll just make the team and bomb out in the heats, or whether it means I get to stand on the podium and have that feeling again, we’ll have to see, but I’m incredibly proud of myself either way.”

With a renewed focus, unrivalled mental toughness and the expectation that he’ll very soon be in the best shape of his career, Chalmers is feeling better than ever. He puts that down to carving out a life for himself away from his identity as an Olympic champion. “People know me as Kyle Chalmers the swimmer, and I’m trying to be Kyle Chalmers the person first,” he says. In line with that attitude, Chalmers has been pursuing new interests and setting himself up for when he finally decides to walk away from the sport he loves. Although, he’s certainly not going easy on himself.

Instead of giving himself a brief respite outside of his packed training schedule, Chalmers has been working part-time as a tradie. Usually this involves doing the backbreaking labour that no one else on the job site volunteers for. “It’s definitely physical work but I see it as pretty good cross training,” he says, without a trace of sarcasm. What’s more, Chalmers is doing the work free of charge. “It’s just about learning new skills I can use once I step away from swimming,” he says.

You might be wondering how Chalmers stands to benefit from adding hard labour to his already busy schedule—surely there’s better uses of his time, right? But the goal of Chalmers’ budding tradie lifestyle is not to earn a few bucks on the side while keeping himself busy in his downtime, it’s about carving out a life for himself that eschews the skills he’s honed to this point, ensuring he’s set up once his athletic career comes to an end. “It’s all about being Kyle away from the pool. In this case that’s being Kyle the labourer, who has to carry all the heavy shit around and do the jobs that no one else wants to do, and I absolutely love it.”

Chalmers’ quest to find himself outside of the pool and be known as more than just a swimmer has led to him starring in a new TV advertisement for Wahl. The commercial sees Chalmers don a multitude of different hairstyles—from a mohawk and handlebar moustache to a mullet and a slicked-up quiff reminiscent of The King of Rock—in an effort to find the ideal style for securing gold in Paris 2024. As you might assume, none of those trims are the right fit. And it takes a Wahl trimmer to deliver the perfect shave. “I honestly had so much fun filming that ad,” says Chalmers. “No one’s seen me like that before, it’s just another way to differentiate myself from who I am in the pool”.

One of many fashionably questionable looks donned by Chalmers in Wahl’s latest campaign, which premiers this month.

In the lead up to next year’s Olympics, Chalmers will unveil a top secret Wahl device, which they’re describing as the “world’s most advanced trimmer”. The X-Ray Trimmer will go on sale right before the Olympics, just in time for Chalmers to attain the perfect shave before going for gold once more. “I’ve been using Wahl products for a while, so I didn’t hesitate to be a part of this campaign,” he says.

Chalmers’ focus on his future made headlines earlier this year after his world championship victories, when he extemporaneously stated in an interview that the 2024 Paris Olympics were likely to be his last. Such assertions naturally beget sensationalised media coverage, and Chalmers’ statement was subsequently misinterpreted as an admission that an early retirement was looming.

In any other sport, such an act would be unthinkable, but such is the nature of swimming. Michael Phelps was lauded for his exceptional longevity when he won his 19^th, 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd, and 23^rd gold medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016 at the ripe old age of 31, and swimmers tend to slow down once they reach their mid-20s. Those are prime years in any other sport.

Chalmers will be 26 by Paris 2024, and he was already considered old for his discipline at the previous Games. In Tokyo, at 22 years of age, Chalmers was the second oldest swimmer in his final. Additionally, if he were to win gold in Paris, he would become the third oldest Olympic champion in the 100-metre freestyle ever. In case you’re wondering, the oldest was The Big Kahuna himself, Duke Kahanamoku, who inexplicably won gold in 1920 on his 30^th birthday. The second oldest winner was The Flying Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband, who was 26. Evidently, athletes don’t last long in Chalmers’ line of work.

Chalmers was quick to clarify his intended point though, explaining that he only meant Paris could be his last Games, and that he plans to continue swimming long after 2024. Now, Chalmers isn’t ruling out competing all the way up to the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. “It would be amazing to go to a home Olympics in Brisbane, but it depends on my body,” he says.

Chalmers is a realist. He knows that in his sport, nothing less than absolute peak physical performance is necessary to compete. “My swimming career could be taken away from me tomorrow, especially with my history of injuries. I’ll swim for as long as my body and my mind holds up.” Regardless of whether or not he swims well into his 30s, Chalmers can say one thing for certain. “I’ll definitely be swimming after Paris, for as long as I can.”

The final trim Chalmers settles on in his Wahl commercial, the perfect cut that only a Wahl trimmer can deliver.

Go to wahl.com for the full range of men’s trimmers, hair clippers and shavers.

The post Kyle Chalmers on silencing internal pressure, overcoming obstacles and creating a life outside the pool appeared first on Men's Health Magazine Australia.