2026 AUSTRALIAN OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, January 22nd – Sunday, January 25th
- Koombana Bay, Western Australia
- OW
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- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap
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Olympian Sam Short made his presence known in a big way on day three of the 2026 Australian Open Water Championships, reaping gold in the 3k knockout event.
New to the championships this year, the knockout sees swimmers all set off with a 1500m swim, after which the slowest swimmers are eliminated. Those that survive then swim a 1000m with the slowest swimmers again eliminated with the last ten remaining swimmers completing a 500m sprint for victory.
Today’s gold pairs with the 10k bronze 22-year-old Short earned on day one at Koombana Bay.
The five-time World Championships medalist said after the race, “I didn’t knock out too many on the first round, so I wanted to try and win each round so I could pick where I went on the pontoon. I tried to go on the inside … and get out in front … I’m a pool swimmer so I kind of (wanted) a bit more clear water, that was my strategy.
“(Dolphins Open Water head coach Fernando Possenti) was keeping me in the loop with some of the tactics some of the other guys might use. Obviously, I’ve never really done open water until now and these guys have been doing it for years.
“So (he was) just letting me know what some people could possibly do and pretty much telling me the common things like use my strength and don’t be lazy and drop my stroke rate.
“Five hundred metres seems so short compared to what I’ve done (this week) but it’s still 500m of fast racing, so I had to be pretty disciplined.
“I’ve got one more race to go tomorrow (the 5km). I love that event (3km knockout sprint), I feel like I’m really good for another 500m, so a lot more of that in the future.”
When asked if he would consider adding open water to his Dolphins program, Short told Swimming Australia, “Ten kilometres is a long way for me, (so) that I really enjoyed actually. There’s a lot more tactics (involved) and I think it’s good for spectators as well. I’d love to do a lot more of it.”
“Also with open water you can do (it) the older you get as well … so plenty of time for open water and this (3km knockout sprint) is way less taxing than a 10km, so doing this before pool could be much more viable.”
“You can’t be too tentative at the start or you’ll be eliminated and you don’t want to be too strong at the start otherwise you won’t have as much energy as someone else that was a bit more tactical towards the end,” Short said.
“It’s definitely very tactical and, I think, pretty exciting.”
DAY 3 RESULTS
Mixed 14-15yrs 4×1.5km Freestyle Relay
1. Carlile (Henry McCarthy, Alexander Siau, Mia Hoo, Hannah Jamieson), 1:12:26.00;
2. SLC Aquadot (Jackson Swingler, Georgia Pyper, Sybella Carney, Kobi Mead), 1:14:22.10;
3. Rocky City, (Mackenzie Wyeth, Jordan Hodgetts, Isla Burridge, Jack Hodgetts), 1:14:37.30
Women’s 3km Knockout Sprint
1.Moesha Johnson, 6:03.20 (Miami); 2. Sienna Deurloo, 6:09.00 (Toowoomba Grammar); 3. Olivia Galea, 6:15.50 (Chandler)
Men’s 3km Knockout Sprint
1. Sam Short, 5:36.00 (Rackley); 2. Tommy Raymond, 5:37.90 (Kawana Waters); 3. Kyle Lee, 5:42.90 (North Coast)
When the knockouts made it to the international competitions I wondered if they could be a more accessible gateway for pool swimmers to get into open water as I suspected it might be a format where more immediate success for a pool swimmer might be possible. That belief was predicated on the idea that pool swimmers that would be trying open water would like have have more speed and likely have training that would make the splits feel natural. Not having the expertise with some of the little things that can make a huge difference in open water felt like they would be mitigated and like Sam just said, getting some basic advice and leaning into his strengths worked. It… Read more »
Thought process sounds valid to me also. This domestic 3km knockout is very different to an international 3km knockout though, domestically rounds 1 and 2 are a warmup for the contenders, internationally rounds 1 and 2 are cut-throat and many big names get eliminated with a sub-elite swim, so internationally this 3km knockout rewards those that can repeat elite 400m efforts all day (seems Sam is interested in exploring this which is fantastic for the sport).
I love how the Openwater skills of Tom Raymond made the race today a much more interesting race than what their pool times would indicate it was going to be like. Sam has a lot of shorter surf lifesaving race experience so Openwater is… Read more »
Good points.