Chase Kalisz always wanted to be like Mike. After all, Michael Phelps is like family to the Georgia junior swimmer.
“Michael has always been like an older brother to me,” Kalisz said. “Since I think I was probably 15 or 14, he’s always watched over me and helped me — guided me in the right direction.”
To get closer to becoming more like his good friend and role model, Kalisz is branching out into other events, such as the 200-meter butterfly and 200-meter breast stroke, in which he competed Saturday at the Bulldog Grand Slam.
“I think what I’ve always grown up looking for is I wanted to be like Michael and Ryan (Lochte) ever since I started swimming,” Kalisz said. “And you look at these guys, and they’re good at every event. (Northern Baltimore Aquatic Club coach) Bob (Bowman) knows that’s the future I want to take, and I’d like to branch out in other events.”
Kalisz joined Phelps and Bowman at Northern Baltimore Aquatic Club in 2010. Former Bulldog and Olympian Allison Schmitt also belongs to NBAC, as does Olympian Yannick Agnel.
Both Phelps and Kalisz left Gabrielsen Natatorium winners Saturday evening — Phelps in the 100-meter backstroke (53.88) and Kalisz in the 200 butterfly (1:58.09). Kalisz finished second to UGA teammate Nic Fink (2:11.76) in the 200 breaststroke in 2:15.30.
One of UGA’s more promising swimmers, Kalisz bested his previous 200-butterfly personal record, improving his time by half a second. But both Kalisz and Phelps conceded that their events Saturday were unorthodox. Kalisz said his unfamiliarity with the 200 breaststroke was much more apparent, particularly to Phelps.
“Michael saw my (200) fly, and he said it was really good,” Kalisz said. “(But 200) breast he’s like, ‘Oooh, you died!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I know.’”
“We all give Chase a hard time,” Phelps said. “He raced two hard races tonight, and he’s definitely a big up-and-comer in our sport.”
After Phelps spent the last year and a half relatively dry and at the driving range, Kalisz is happy to have his training teammate out of retirement and back in the the water with him.
“I love being around Michael,” Kalisz said. “He’s the greatest of all time and I really care about him, and it’s good seeing him happy swimming again and I love that. I love being around him even more.”
Kalisz also spent time in Colorado Springs, Colo., earlier this summer with Phelps and Bowman to train at altitude, as did Fink.
“It’s definitely different than here,” Kalisz said, comparing his club in Baltimore with his college team. “I mean, Georgia — great program. I love being here and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. But the level is different in Baltimore.”
While Kalisz’s celebrated the return of his mentor, Georgia teammate Ty Stewart picked up a new training partner of his own when he joined SwimMAC Carolina in May: Ryan Lochte.
“I just want you to beat Ryan and Tyler (Clary) on something,” SwimMAC coach David Marsh told Stewart when he joined the club. “And as soon as he started pushing out ahead of them, the next thing you know, Tyler and Ryan are starting to go and then they’re turning the set into something it wasn’t meant to be, which is a much harder set than it was supposed to be.”
Stewart competed in the A-final of the 200 breaststroke and the 200 butterfly’s B-final, but failed to surpass either of his preliminary times from Saturday morning. Despite those shortcomings, Marsh gave Stewart a similar stamp of approval to the one Phelps gave Kalisz.
Kalisz will race in the 200-meter individual medley and the 200-meter backstroke (which he has far less experience competing in) Sunday.
“I’m excited for the (200) IM,” Kalisz said. I’m not excited at all for the (200) back because I really don’t like that event and I’m really bad at it.”
Phelps, on the other hand, is ready to give other events a try and leave races like the 400 individual medley in his wake.
“Time to pass the torch to Chase and he can take over,” Phelps said. “That race is too painful.”
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