Chalmers targets Commonwealth title after Paris

Alastair Chalmers says he is aiming to be Guernsey's first Commonwealth Games athletics gold medallist after returning from the Paris Olympics.

The 24-year-old dramatically crashed out of the 400m hurdles in the semi-finals when he fell three-quarters of the way through the race.

Chalmers won Commonwealth bronze for Guernsey in Birmingham in 2022 and hopes his experience can help him make the top of the podium should the next Games go ahead.

Reports have suggested Glasgow could host the event after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out of hosting it.

"I want to win the Commonwealth Games for Guernsey and I want to make the final in the Europeans," he told BBC Radio Guernsey.

Chalmers, who set a personal best to make the qualifying time for Paris 2024, also has his sights set on the next Olympics as well.

"I really want to make that final in Los Angeles. I think give me another four years and I will progress.

"So much can happen in four years, you've got to be healthy, you've got to be fit and you've got to be in a good place."

Alastair Chalmers' Olympic Games came to an end when he crashed through a hurdle three-quarters of the way through his semi-final

Chalmers says he has no regrets over the way his Olympics came to an end when he crashed out.

Running in the outside lane, he was chasing, among others, the eventual gold medallist Rai Benjamin.

"I'm so proud of how I set it up, it was unfortunate that I hit it and fell over, but I got myself up and crossed the line," Chalmers said.

"I'm not upset or angry about anything. This was my first Olympic Games, I'm 24 years old and my goal going into it was to make the semi-final.

"If I came last or first or fourth, I'd already won - getting to these Games and making the semi was a massive win in my head.

"My event is so technical, it's a very difficult event, and as we saw in the final two of the best guys in the world fell over.

"Sometimes a chance pays off and sometimes it doesn't, you've got to take risks and I'm just so proud that I'm in a position where I was stood on a line in the semi-final acknowledging how far I've come and how amazing and rare that moment was."