2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

The first swimmer officially added to the 2016 USA Olympic Swimming Team was 400 IM winner Chase Kalisz. Kalisz and long-time coach Bob Bowman talked with the media later this evening. You can watch the video above, but here a few snippets.

Asked about Michael Phelps pushing him, Chase said:

Yeah, yeah. I’ve said it before in Michael’s head — he’s like a brother to me, and um — he’s going to push me like a brother, and he’s going to challenge me and that’s what I need. I don’t necessarily think that it — coming from anyone other than Bob or Michael, it’s probably going to make me really mad!

Chase on if he can swim faster in Rio:

I know I need to be faster than I was tonight, and I think I’m very capable of it, even looking at my lactate, it wasn’t that high, and I don’t even feel like — I don’t even feel that tired after the race, and I think I was just so nervous, and this was the one thing for my entire life…[Japanese swimmers Seto and Hagino are] unbelievable and those two have been the best for the past few years and if I want to — I’ve got to be competitive with those guys, and I know I’ve got a lot of things I need to work on, but obviously those are the two guys I’m shooting for and it’s — they’re going to be tough to beat.

Read the full transcript here.