The 400m hurdler's confidence is befitting of an athlete who ran a 48.30 PB from lane two in “horrible conditions” in Rehlinger in June

“Things are going very well right now,” says the 25-year-old. “I honestly think it’s just the accumulation of good training, a good set-up, and staying healthy. I’ve got a great team around me and I’m at the stage where I’m consistently running world class times, which is really nice.”

The University of Bath graduate credits coach Matt Elias with much of his progress. The pair started working together in Cardiff at the end of 2019 and successfully navigated the pandemic period during which Chalmers returned home to Guernsey. He has since won multiple national titles, two European Team Championships silver medals, Commonwealth Games bronze and European indoor 4x400m mixed relay bronze. He is also ranked fifth on the British all-time list.

His previous best mark of 48.54 – achieved while running under protest at the memorable 2024 UK Championships – was a last-gasp (and successful) attempt to secure qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris. This time around, with the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo pending, the hunting was done early; in fact, by the end of June Chalmers had recorded five of his 10 fastest ever performances and on each occasion surpassed the mark of 48.70 he worked so hard to achieve last year.

Of those who have run quicker, only British record-holder Kriss Akabusi (47.82) and Dai Greene (47.84) have run under 48 seconds. Between them, the pair have won a host of world, European and Commonwealth titles.

In an event which has moved on globally due to the extraordinary performances of athletes such as world record-holder Karsten Warholm (45.94) and the sub-47 quartet of Rai Benjamin, Alison Dos Santos, Kevin Young and Abderrahman Samba, as well as progressing within the UK (at the time of writing (in July) Chalmers, Seamus Derbyshire and Tyri Donovan had all run inside the World Championships qualifying time of 48.50), Chalmers believes his own sub-48 clocking is imminent; but making the final of the World Championships is what would make him truly happy.

“I honestly think that if everything comes together I could run sub-48 this year,” he says. “I’m just being patient with it. I’m trying not to be too outrageous with what I say, but I do think it’s there.

“I mean, I ran 48.3 in horrible conditions in lane two on a horribly tight track, so there’s 100 per cent three tenths there.

“My first 200m is pretty pristine now, so it’s just going to be: ‘How can I hold my momentum for as long as possible?’ and that will come over hurdles eight, nine and 10 – that’s just bettering my stride pattern. I do 15s [strides] from hurdles eight to 10 and I think we’re going to try to push those 14s out for the rest of the season. That’ll take a tenth or two tenths off each hurdle, and then you put me in a world semi-final and the animal comes out, doesn’t it?

“I’m more bothered about making the world final than running 47 [seconds]. If I don’t make the final and I run a PB I’ll still be happy, but the main goal is to make the world final because I think I’m good enough to do that. The time is in the legs. If it doesn’t happen this year it’ll happen next year or the year after. All I’m looking for is to get faster and stronger each year, to learn more about the event, and to be exposed to the greats of the event – and I’m exactly where I need to be and want to be right now.”

“It’s such a painful event and it’s painful training,” says Chalmers, who typically trains three weeks on/one week off.

“Matt’s training is a mixture between old school and a modern training regime and that’s what makes it so hard.

“For now it’s just keeping the speed in place, and keeping the strength and power in place, and all the things that will flower into good times later in the season, because I respond well to hard work. I’m not one of those athletes that runs well off no training, I need to work hard; those 450s, the runs to hurdle 10, the heavy gym – it’s horrible at the time but I respond really well to it and it makes me as strong as an ox, quite frankly.”

Monday: gym – not extreme lifting but good loading including, for example, cleans, hip thrusts, upper body work and trunk/hip/core circuits
Tuesday: speed day such as 4 x 120m or 4 x 150m
(12 minutes recovery)
Wednesday: active recovery using an ice bath, Normatec (compression boots), walks, tennis etc.
Thursday: anaerobic session such as 450m-350m-250m
(off 12 and 10 minutes). “You’re covering all bases with this one,” says Chalmers. “It will show where my strength is at, because if I can finish that session feeling good then I know I’m in a really good place.”
Friday: gym - heavy gym including power cleans, squats, lunges, core, pull-ups and step-ups (with bar on back stepping on to box)
Saturday: off/rest day
Sunday: hurdle-specific session. “Because I’ve had a rest day on the Saturday I feel a bit fresher for the hurdles. The session would be, for example, runs from hurdles 2-10 (x3) off 15min, which is a nice recovery but not too generous. It’s pretty much about maintaining my stride pattern throughout the race.”

Favourite session: “The session I’m best at is 5 x 300m off five minutes. The five minutes is enough for me to recover so I can stay at a really good speed. We always do it in January/February time so I look at it and I think: ‘Oh no!’ because you know you’re going to be on the floor for about 45 minutes at the end.”

Least favourite session: “500m-400m-300m-400m, because we do it during the winter when it’s windy, rainy and horrible. It’s the mindset that you’re going down [in distance] then my coach will say: ‘Right guys, you’ve got 12 minutes and we’re going back up to a 400m,’ so you’ve got all this lactic and fatigue and then you’re not even doing a 200m, you’re going back up to a 400m!”

This interview was done in the run-up to the 2025 UK Champs