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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Aussie teenager Samuel Higgs set a massive personal best time en route to claiming victory in the men’s 400 IM on Friday at the Australian Short Course Championships in Melbourne.
Higgs, who represents Warringah Aquatic Swim Club out of Frenchs Forest, New South Wales, clocked 4:08.19 to top runner-up Thomas Hauck (4:09.82) and knock more than three and a half seconds off his previous best of 4:11.96, set in July.
Trailing by more than two seconds at the halfway mark, Higgs outsplit Hauck by more than three and a half seconds on the breast leg, 1:09.12 to 1:12.89, and then essentially matched him on the free leg to book the victory.
Relative to his previous best time, Higgs made most of the difference on breast, out-splitting his swim from July by two seconds.
Split Comparison
| Higgs, July 2025 |
Higgs, October 2025
|
| 27.06 | 26.92 |
| 57.73 (30.67) | 57.59 (30.67) |
| 1:30.44 (32.71) | 1:30.03 (32.44) |
| 2:01.89 (31.45) | 2:01.52 (31.49) |
| 2:37.38 (35.49) | 2:36.13 (34.61) |
| 3:13.03 (35.65) | 3:10.64 (34.51) |
| 3:43.47 (30.44) | 3:40.12 (29.48) |
| 4:11.96 (28.49) | 4:08.19 (28.07) |
With this swim, Higgs moves up from 7th to 4th all-time among 18-year-old Australians in the event, and is within seven-tenths of the Age Record set by Thomas Fraser-Holmes in 2010 (4:07.50).
All-Time Performers, 18-Year-Old Australian Boys’ 400 IM (SCM)
- Thomas Fraser-Holmes (Hunter), 4:07.50 – 2010
- David Schlicht (MLC Aquatic), 4:07.73 – 2018
- Karl Albertyn (Miami), 4:07.90 – 2024
- Samuel Higgs (Warringah), 4:08.19 – 2025
- Thomas Neill (Rackley), 4:08.93 – 2020
Higgs has been a dominant force on the Australian age group scene over the last five years, winning 12 national age titles, including five in the 400 IM and four in the 200 IM. This past April, in his last Australian Age & MC Championships (LCM) as an 18-year-old, he won titles in the 200 back (2:03.35), 200 breast (2:16.15), 200 IM (2:01.49) and 400 IM (4:21.66).
At the Australian World Championship Trials in June, Higgs placed 6th in both the 200 IM (2:01.93) and 400 IM (4:21.13), setting a new lifetime best in the latter.
In addition to his title in the 400 IM, Higgs has also won the 200 IM (1:56.45), placed 4th in the 200 back (1:57.28) and 200 breast (2:11.50), and taken 7th in the 400 free (3:47.32) so far at the Australian Short Course Championships.
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Off topic, but probably the most suitable place to comment it: British Country Age Group Champs (SCM) were last week and there were some very fast swims.
Chief among them was Theodora Taylor who opened her SC season up with British 16yo age records in the 100fr (53.0) and 100br (1.05.8) to continue her breakthrough season. Of note, 16yo 400IMer Amalie Smith swam 54.0 behind her to go 4th all time, behind Taylor, Halsall and Okaro.
Sam Higgs certainly has had a very memorable week. Have been very impressed by his performances, congrats to him 👏👏👏.