2026 AUSTRALIAN SWIMMING TRIALS
- Monday, June 8 – Saturday, June 13, 2026
- Sydney, Australia
- Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Commonwealth Selection Criteria
- Pan Pac Selection Criteria
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Storylines To Watch
- Live Recaps:
Leave it to Sam Short to give Aussie trials a dynamite start. In the meet’s first event, the men’s 400 freestyle, he gave the World and national records a proper scare with a 3:40.67, marked by an aggressive front half.
Though he missed the aforementioned records, it still marked one of the best swims of the 22-year-old’s career and one of the strongest performances in any event anywhere in the world this year. The time checks in as Short’s lifetime best — .01 under the 3:40.68 he delivered to take the 2023 World Title. It also keeps him as the #5 all-time performer and just outside the top 10 all-time performances at #11.
All-Time Performers, Men’s LCM 400 free:
- Lukas Märtens (GER) — 3:39.96, 2025
- Paul Biedermann (GER) — 3:40.07, 2009
- Ian Thorpe (AUS) — 3:40.08, 2002
- Sun Yang (CHN) — 3:40.14, 2012
- Sam Short (AUS) — 3:40.67, 2026
Domestically, Short maintains his place as the second-fastest performer ever, trailing Ian Thorpe, and it marks the fifth-fastest performance ever from an Australian, with Thorpe having clocked 3:40.08, 3:40.14, 3:40.54 and 3:40.59 during his legendary career.
With Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs privileges secured, Short takes the pole position in the season’s world rankings. He leapfrogs over previous #2 Märtens (3:41.76) and former #1 Zhang Zhanshuo of China (3:41.55) to lead the globe by nearly a second. Short previously had the #3 spot at 3:42.53 from the Australian Open.
2025-2026 LCM Men 400 FREE
SHORT
3:40.67
View Top 26»2 Zhang
Zhanshuo CHN 3:41.55 03/21 3 Lukas
MärtensGER 3:41.76 04/23 4 Oliver
KlemetGER 3:43.14 04/09 5 Ryan
ERISMANUSA 3:44.03 05/24
To bring home Short’s aggressive first half, compare his splits this evening to his previous pb as well as Märtens. It was under Märtens’ world record pace from the 150 to the 350. That swim in its own right was already known for an aggressive first 200.
| Sam Short, 2023 Worlds | Sam Short, 2026 Aussie Trials | Lukas Märtens, 2025 Stockholm Open | |
| 50 | 25.91 | 25.22 | 24.75 |
| 100 | 53.58 (27.67) | 52.28 (27.06) | 51.90 (27.15) |
| 150 | 1:21.33 (27.75) | 1:19.47 (27.19) | 1:19.65 (27.75) |
| 200 | 1:49.29 (27.96) | 1:47.33 (27.86) | 1:47.55 (27.90) |
| 250 | 2:17.46 (28.17) | 2:15.22 (27.89) | 2:15.83 (28.28) |
| 300 | 2:45.49 (28.03) | 2:43.69 (28.47) | 2:44.01 (28.18) |
| 350 | 3:13.67 (28.18) | 3:12.38 (28.69) | 3:12.39 (28.38) |
| 400 | 3:40.68 (27.01) | 3:40.67 (28.29) | 3:39.96 (27.57) |
This statement Domestically, it stands as the #2 Australian performance all-time, trailing only Ian Thorpe’s legendary 3:40.08 from nearly a quarter-century ago.
Is mistaken. He is the #2 australian performer. But Thorpe swam under that time 3 times, so its not the #2 Australian Performance.
4 times actually!
3:40.08 2002 Commenwealth Games
3:40.17 2001 World Championships
3:40.54 2002 Australian Swimming championships
3:40.59 2000 Olympic Games
Crazy to think Short wasn’t even born yet lol
Short breaks this WR at Comm Games, then Maertens breaks it at Europeans, and then Zhang Zhanshuo breaks it at Asian Games
Maybe it’s that his front speed is there now but he might break his 800 free Australian record this week. Hacketts 1500 record should be safe for now.
I don’t want to give absolutes but I think that going out in 1:47.3 in the 200
could maybe make him hurt the reason of this week.
I don’t want to give absolutes but I think that going out in 1:47.3 in the 200
could maybe make him hurt the reason of this week.