Last minute changes have been made to the event lineup of the Australian Short Course National Championships with a little more than a month until the start of the meet. The event order itself has not changed, but Swimming Australia did change the 400 freestyle and the 400 IM from a timed final to prelim/final events.
Although this change isn’t the biggest that could have been made, it will still have an impact on the meet. It will likely add extra swims for swimmers that may not have been planning on a second swim in this event, but it will add value to those that are preparing for the Olympic Trials in April.
There is a lot to take away from swimming short course the year before the Olympics. Competing in your home country in short course meters will give swimmers the opportunity to fine tune their turns, underwater, and breakouts with twice as many opportunities to use them in a race. When the elite athletes step away from the competition within their own country and dive in the pool against the best in the world, every turn, underwater, and breakout is going to matter and they will have to be perfect to earn a spot on the podium next summer.
The Australian short course championships should be one of the most exciting meets of the season. The only other major short course championship meets this year are the European Championships in early December and then the Duel in the Pool, which opens up the World Rankings for Australian swimmers.
The meet starts on Thursday, November 26th and goes to Saturday, November 28th in Sydney.
