Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers has undergone another round of surgery for a long-term heart condition, saying he was now cautiously hopeful the problem had been fixed "once and for all".
The 21-year-old swimming star posted a photo on Instagram late yesterday of himself in a hospital bed after the operation, captioned with the words "third time lucky".
"Fingers crossed today's heart surgery fixed the problem once and for all," he wrote.
"Thanks again everyone for the love and support."
The swimmer, who originally hails from Port Lincoln on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, sensationally claimed gold at the Rio Olympics in the 100m freestyle when aged just 18.
Chalmers — who is the son of former AFL footballer Brett — has previously revealed he suffers from an ongoing heart condition known as supraventricular tachycardia.
"[I] have increasingly begun to suffer from an abnormally fast heart rhythm during training and competitions, which now requires surgery," he said in an earlier social media post.
The condition arises from improper electrical activity in the upper part of the heart.
While most cases of the condition are not considered to be dangerous, frequent episodes can weaken cardiac muscle.
In 2017, Chalmers revealed previous heart surgery had failed to fix the problem, which forced him to miss the World Championships in Budapest.
The latest operation comes less than 11 months out from the Tokyo Olympics, which will begin on July 24, with Chalmers previously expressing a determination to qualify.
"Tokyo is definitely what I'm building for, it's my goal to get to another Olympics. I had a great experience in Rio," he said in 2017.
"We've got a lot of young people coming up through the sport who I think when 2020 rolls around they will be at their peak ready to really perform."
