PARIS, France — Following the footsteps of the great Michael Phelps, 6-foot-4 swimmer Chase Kalisz represented Harford County at the Olympics for the second time in his post-collegiate career by competing in the 2024 Paris games.
Defending his gold medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Kalisz swam in the preliminary round of the men’s 400 meter individual medley on Sunday morning where he failed to qualify for the finals of this year’s event. His time was 4:13.36, just two seconds off of the time he needed to become eligible for the next stage.
A Bel Air, Md. native, Kalisz graduated from Fallston High School in 2012 after spending much of his youth at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, where Phelps, too, was conditioned to become an Olympian at a young age.
“It certainly brings back great memories, seeing all the kids that we’ve had swimming in the Olympics,” Tom Himes, NBAC head coach and CEO, told Harford Lifestyle. “We’ve had a pretty good number of people that have made the Olympics or gone to the Olympic trials, and for a club team of our size, it’s certainly a point of pride.”
After Kalisz’s time at Fallston reached its end, he committed to the University of Georgia, but it took him five years to graduate instead of four.
Why?
Because he needed to take a gap year to focus on competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, at which he and other Maryland swimmers combined for over 10 Olympic medals.
Across three separate Olympics, the 30-year-old has only ever competed in the 400 meter individual medley. In Rio eight years ago, Kalisz won the silver medal between Japanese swimmers Kosuke Hagino and Daiya Seto to mark the first of two Olympic medals he’s earned thus far in his career.
