By Tom Decent
Fukuoka: When Sam Short held on to win the men’s 400m freestyle final at the world swimming championships on Sunday, in a time of three minutes 40.68 seconds, he came within six tenths of a second of breaking Ian Thorpe’s Australian record that has stood for 21 years.
For many Australians who only care about swimming once every four years at the Olympics, there would have been plenty of Google searches to learn a bit more about this relatively unknown 19-year-old from the Sunshine Coast.
Short is toughness personified and will be one of Australia’s best gold medal chances by the time the Paris Olympics begin in July next year. He races in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
Need an example of why he’s so tenacious? Take this from Short’s coach, Damien Jones, after a particularly lung-busting and brutal training block.
“Everything I threw at him, he just ate it up. He’d look at me and smile, as if to say, is that all you’ve got?” Jones said. “So the next block of training, it’s another level up. Same thing. There’s nothing that I’ve thrown at him that he hasn’t been able to succeed at. He will never let me win.”
Asked whether Short has it in him to break Paul Biedermann’s long-standing 400m freestyle world record of 3:40.07, which is one hundredth of a second faster than Thorpe’s mark, Jones interjects before the question has even finished.
Sam Short after touching the wall first in his 400m freestyle final in Fukuoka. Credit: Getty
“100 per cent,” Jones said. “He’s only 19. I think he can improve 0.1 or 0.2 [seconds] every turn.
“Our expectation was he was going to get 3:41. [To swim] 3:40, that’s another level. There’s no limitation on this kid. I’m not ever going to put a ceiling or a capacity on what I think I can hit. We’re just letting him go and just enjoying the ride.”
Short has joined an illustrious list of Australians to win a world title in the men’s 400m freestyle.
Kieren Perkins picked up a gold in 1994 before Thorpe pulled off a treble across 1998, 2001 and 2003. Grant Hackett, whose personal best was bettered by Short earlier this year, claimed a gold in 2005 before Elijah Winnington’s first place in 2022.
Mack Horton is the last Australian to win a 400m final at the Olympics, doing so in 2016.
Short is undertaking a science and law degree and is an ambassador for Melanoma Institute Australia after undergoing surgery following last year’s world championships.
He’s also a talented Australian surf champion, having followed in the footsteps of his father Danny and uncle Stephen at the Maroochydore club.
“He’s got a great family and good parents,” Jones said. “He loves his footy. He loves the Parramatta Eels. He’s heavily involved in the surf club and I like him doing that.”
Could Short be as good as Thorpe and Hackett one day?Credit: Getty
But it’s in the pool where Short is flourishing. He has a 1500m freestyle heat on Saturday and his coach is quietly confident another big personal best could be on the cards.
Even after beating Hackett’s Australian record in the 800m freestyle this week, it’s not all praise for the teenager.
“I do like grounding him with some little facts about Thorpey and Hackey,” Jones said. “I’ll give him something challenging and I’ll say, ‘Mate, Thorpey would have done that’. He just thrives in that environment.
“He’s shown me the messages that Grant Hackett sent him. He’s in awe of those guys. I’m in awe of their coaches.
“You’re part of something bigger than just yourself. It’s the history of the heritage of the Australian Dolphins. It gives me goosebumps talking about it because I just love it. I never want it to end.”
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